Lovely piece, Joe, and a nice tribute to Don. Here is his official paper on Townsend's Solitaires in Mt. Magazine, coauthored with Kim Smith. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3289&context=jaas On Thursday, 2 April 2026 at 07:48:58 pm GMT-5, Joseph Neal <0000078cbd583d7c-dmarc-request...> wrote:
Some may enjoy this memory of a fun day in the field with Don Simons. Originally posted to ARBIRD list.
WITH DON SIMONS ON TOSO TRAIL January 18, 2018For several years running now, one of Arkansas’s coveted, rare, and must-see birds are the Townsend’s Solitaires (TOSOs) found several years ago at Mount Magazine State Park by park interpreter Don Simons. At least one bird is wintering this winter. David Oakley and I saw it this morning, with help from Don, of course.TOSOs aren’t rare where they nest in the montane west, but if you want to see one in January, get ready for a long trip: 400+ miles out to deep canyons in the Black Mesa country of far western Oklahoma. Or for the past few years, Mt Magazine State Park, where Don has found several in winter along breath-taking, rocky, cedar-clad south-facing blufflines. Places where Greater Roadrunners stroll rocks and balance courtesy of long expressive tails and sturdy footwork courtesy of dos execues toes. Rock hoppers they are, with long swishy tails. A bird with a real tale and a real tail to tell it with (my apologies to Lawrence Ferlinghetti).David and I met Don at the visitor center this morning. Within a few minutes we were out in the field, and hot on the solitaire trail. We had great looks at both male and female Purple Finches. There were Dark-eyed Juncos, Cedar Waxwings, Yellow-rumped Warblers, a flock of Eastern Bluebirds, musical Blue Jays, and a flock of American Robins.We walked the trail below the bluffline and saw a Hermit Thrush. The roadrunner easily remained far enough ahead David couldn’t get a photograph. Then we saw Townsend’s Solitaire perched high in a leafless tree, above a big old cedar. It looked this way. It looked that way. And so did we.John Kirk Townsend found one in Oregon, in 1835 and Audubon described it and named it in Townsend’s honor in 1838. A little less than 200 years later, we are all in for this little bluebird relative that now thanks to Don is also part of the story of birds in Arkansas.How enthusiastic are we about this? It’s 110 miles, give or take, from Fayetteville to this Arkansas rarity.Watching Townsend’s this morning, I was also thinking about Don and government employees like him who so freely share their passions and interests. He came to Arkansas parks in 1981 and to Magazine in 2000. What a gift it is to the people of Arkansas, hungry to learn more about their state, and then run into someone like Don.Standing in the welcome flood of this morning’s sunshine and rising temp, I was also in the middle of being thankful. Then Townsend’s dropped back into the cedar thicket and out-of-sight. No problem here. I got to see The Bird, with its trademark eye ring, and I thought about that all the way back to Fayetteville.
