Les:

I am going to Pine Bluff in June on business.  I plan to drive
the roads
that weekend of the Cache and White River areas, just to explore.
In 10
years, when the Nature Conservancy and other Zen NGOs have
expanded
the riparian bottomland forest sufficiently to ensure the
increase of the IBWO to a
sizable population, I will be ready to return and go after it.

In September of 2003, I prepared for a trip to Arkansas by
printing out detailed
maps of the White River area, thinking that it looked great for
birds.  I birded at
Arkansas Post and nearby, and saw a great variety of species.  I
stopped
about two miles short of the White River National Wildlife
Refuge.(!?)

For some reason, I have an urge to return and continue.

My strongest memory from that trip was a spot where there was
yellow tape
blocking access to a bend in the bayou, in the park at Arkansas
Post, with
signs that said to beware of the alligator - they tend to hide
under floating logs,
watching for prey.  I did not get any closer.

Also seen, while working outdoors at Pine Bluff Arsenal - a male
Summer
Tanager carrying a fecal sac.  Heard every day - Bobwhite and
Chat.

Arkansas folks are really nice, and so is the home-cooked food at
their
Mom and Pop restaurants.  I participated in the ARBIRD-L
listserve for about
a year, while traveling to AR.  I found that AR birders are great
folks, too.

My more practical goal for the near future is to see a
Red-cockaded
Woodpecker in AR.

How is this relevant to MD birds?  I learned the song of the
Dickcissel very well,
so I could recognize them singing in the northwest of Carroll
County for the MD
Breeding Bird Atlas.

Bill Ellis
Eldersburg, Carroll Co.
billellisATellislistDOTcom


-----Original Message-----
From: Les Roslund
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 8:15 PM

-----Original Message-----
From: McLoudPeak

... I do think those of us who love birds and get some of our
greatest
pleasure from observing birds should take the lead in preserving
this
very special example of the American avifauna.

... The point of Zen Birding would be to appreciate the beauty of
a
bird - its Zen - by not seeing it.  By sacrificing any attempt to
actually see
the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, one would be contributing to the
chances of its
survival.