FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] April Big Day

[HapC1@xxxxxxx]

As far as I know there is no record of a team of women reporting a big day in 
Kentucky.  Roseanna and I thought it was time to change the record books. 
We chose Saturday, April 5, 2003, because we both had a free weekend.  We did 
not have much time to scout our area or worry about weather conditions.  The 
day started with strong winds and terrible heat shimmers on the lakes.  We 
began at 5am west of Kentucky Dam working our way to Lake Barkley and 
eventually Fulton County.  Our day was filled with great finds, disappointing 
misses and a few hearty laughs.  The first laugh of the day was when Roseanna 
was sucked in by mucky hole while listening for a Virginia Rail.  Roseanna 
came up a bit wet but she never dropped her birding equipment.  The rail took 
pity on the struggling ladies and called repeatedly.   
We spent too much of our time looking for waterfowl that we could not 
identify.  Between fishing boats and shimmers we came away from the lakes wit
h only 9 species of ducks and 2 species of goose.  Double-crested Cormorants 
were literally everywhere and we can easily say there were thousands.  The 
Bald Eagles shut us out at the dams so we headed to Lake #9 for the nesting 
pair that could be counted on. It was after noon so we chose to forgo the 
Ospreys that nest on Honker Lake.  We stopped at Jonathan Creek and added 
Gadwall, Red-breasted merganser, Ruddy Duck, Least Sandpiper, Forster's Tern 
and Prairie Warbler.  
Time was running out and we learned a valuable lesson.  Five wasn't early 
enough to start a big day and a 30 minute breakfast wasn't the right choice.  
The extra time would have been valuable later in the day. 
Driving down highway 94 toward Long Point we had the most incredible sight of 
our day.  Hundreds of American-Golden Plover and Pectoral Sandpipers filled 
two fields.  We didn't have the time to count all the birds but we felt an 
estimate of 500 plus plovers is conservative.  We went back this morning 
between squalls and counted 200 birds.  
We added Northern Pintail and American Wigeon to our duck list to end with 13 
species of ducks.  Our biggest holes were owls, sparrows and early migrants.  
We missed a couple of species that we easily saw today in the pouring rain.  
Our final species count for the day was 100 with both of us seeing or hearing 
99 of the 100.  We drove 220 miles and finished at 7:30pm.  
Thanks to all the Big Day fanatics who encouraged us to give this a try.  
We've made the rookie mistakes now so watch out, there will be a next time!!!
Hap Chambers
Roseanna Denton


================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