FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] Trip report: Reelfoot Lake and Land Between the Lakes

["Patti Bell" <pbjoin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We just returned from a weekend trip to Reelfoot Lake State Park in
Tennessee and Land Between the Lakes.  The main purpose of our trip was
eagle watching, and that was quite successful.  We took a van tour at
Reelfoot Lake and a cruise on Kentucky Lake at LBL, and both resulted in
many Bald Eagle spottings.  One of the LBL naturalists gave us a tip on the
eagles' evening roost, so we headed there around 4:00 pm and saw many eagles
flying in and roosting.  At one point we had 5 eagles in a single scope
view, and we could pan the scope horizontally and see 12 eagles at once!
Quite nice!  On the LBL cruise we also got a nice look at one Golden Eagle.

We enjoyed watching the eagles soaring around; several pairs of them seemed
to be beginning their courtship dances; we saw beautiful synchronized flying
along with a few "talon tag" maneuvers.  At times during our Kentucky Lake
cruise we saw as many as 5 in the air at once, looking like they were simply
enjoying the breezes.

A new experience for me was seeing a swirling mass of Snow Geese at Reelfoot
Lake; thousands of them creating a great cacophany of sound and visual
confusion.  The entire sky was covered with them!

Other highlights:
- Barred Owl at LBL who gave us a nice enough look that we got a decent
photo
- Northern Harriers at Reelfoot Lake
- many Red-Tailed Hawks at LBL
- American Kestrel at Reelfoot Lake
- a large flock of Wild Turkeys at LBL
- many Killdeer at Reelfoot Lake
- Eastern Phoebe (LBL)
- Eastern Bluebird (several)
- Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Reelfoot Lake)
- Dark-Eyed Juncoes (gazillions at LBL)
- Red-Winged Blackbird (Reelfoot Lake)


Patti Bell - Louisville
================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBERS=============
The BIRDKY Mailing List requires you to sign
your messages with first & last name, city, &
state abbreviation.
--------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, send e-mail to:
birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
--------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, send e-mail to:
birdky-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject line.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Visit the Kentucky Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.biology.eku.edu/kos.htm
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
BIRDKY List Manager: Gary Ritchison, Richmond, KY
E-mail: gary.ritchison@xxxxxxx