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News • Arkansas • United States • 2012-07-27

Tour Bird Island!

If you are looking for something cool to do this month, on several evenings throughout August park interpreters at Lake Ouachita State Park in Mountain Pine offer tours of Bird Island. The island is located in the middle of Lake Ouachita. In the summer, the island is a hot spot for purple martins and thus has become a hot spot for birders.

Bird Island, home to Lake Ouachita’s “tornado of birds” is, located in the middle of Lake Ouachita and was recently named an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the National Audubon Society. The narrow spit of land hosts 30-50 thousand purple martins in late July and early August.

After nesting, the birds convene there with thousands of others before their long migration to Brazil. While the roost is active, Lake Ouachita State Park gives barge tours in July and August to observe the birds flying low across the lake, swirling around Bird Island, and finally cascading into a small grove of cypress trees just as the sun sets. While visiting the evening martin roost, tour guests may find the nesting egrets and herons equally captivating.If lucky, guests may also catch a glimpse of a pelican, ibis or other wading bird alongside the martins, egrets and herons.

The island has been cited for a number of years for its bird population. Four years ago, Audubon AR board member Bo Verser noticed the numbers of birds were setting off Nexrad radar over Lake Ouachita. Audubon Arkansas began looking for documentation of the birds and began conversations with the US Army Corps of Engineers, AR Game and Fish, Ouachita National Forest, and local birders.

Mountain Pine High School EAST program played a critical role in documenting this natural phenomenon. When Audubon wanted to investigate reporters of birds setting off Nexrad radar, they turned to team from Mountain Pine who monitored the island for two years. Their efforts included photographing the sky, counting birds in trees, and filming 360 degrees to gain an accurate count. National ornithologists were impressed that a local school would undertake the scientific challenge of monitoring and preparing data over the two year span.

Purple martins are colony nesters who depend on houses people provide across the US. Loved for their graceful flight and insect consumption, they catch their food and water mid-flight. Native Americans, Chicasaw and Choctaw hung gourds for the birds outside their homes.Cattle egrets, Little Blue Herons, Great Blue Herons, White Ibis, Turkey Vultures, American Crow and Red-Winged Blackbirds also frequent the island. The egrets, herons, and ibis have nests there.

Reservations are required and space is limited. Tickets are $9 plus tax for adults, $5 plus tax for children age six to twelve and free for those under age six.To make reservations, purchase tickets, or for more information; contact the visitor center at (501)767-9366.

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