FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] RPT-West Ky: May 6, 2003

[Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Lee McNeely, Mark Monroe and I undertook another all-day whirlwind of west
Kentucky on Tuesday, May 6th.  With 174 species under our belt the week
before, Mark and I figured it was a sure bet to break new ground in May . .
. not!  We got up a little earlier and ran through about the same pre-dawn
bird list as the week before, but added Chuck-will's-widow (at the hotel in
Central City!), Sedge Wren, and picked up a Great Horned Owl right on top of
our Eastern Screech-Owl spot. In order to "protect" the screech-owl, we
moved our taping spot down the road a couple of hundred yards and he arrived
right on cue.  The Sinclair Unit of Peabody WMA yielded its additional
grassland birds and we were off to LBL for another morning of warbler sights
and sounds.  The morning was gray and a breeze kept the leaves in motion,
making observation of birds a bit difficult.  I must admit to being
completely overwhelmed by the warbler song, which was distracting enough
(along with the motion of the leaves) that we missed several highly
sought-after birds including Golden-winged Warbler, American Redstart
(mistakenly claimed by me as a miss on a previous post about our April 30th
birding -- we actually got one that day), Least Flycatcher, Ruby-crowned
Kinglet, Gray-cheeked Thrush, and Philadelphia Vireo -- our day listed ended
with 29 spp of warblers.  Highlights included an Olive-sided Flycatcher, a
Blue-headed Vireo, and a Black-billed Cuckoo (actually at the Kuttawa
Recreation Area).  In and around the dams we added most of the same
waterbirds as the previous week, although better viewing conditions allowed
us to spy a drake Ring-necked Duck and we also found singles of Bonaparte's
Gull and Black Tern.  A swing by the Scissor-tailed Flycatchers yielded nice
looks at them, and we were off to Fulton County.  A timely pit-stop provided
us with a relatively early Willow Flycatcher at Obion WMA, but few
shorebirds could be found.  In fact, of several disappointments in the day,
the lack of shorebirds was the greatest.  We tallied only 10 species, and
figured most were grounded by the severe storms in Tennessee the previous
night rather than in Kentucky.  A stop to visit the Eurasian Collared-Doves
in Hickman provided the day's big surprise -- a White-winged Dove!  The bird
was hanging out with the Collareds and provided great looks and an
opportunity for photography.  Roseanna and Julie Denton happened to be "in
town" looking for the Painted Bunting so Roseanna was able to make up for
her two missed attempts at WWDOs in 2002 :o)  The male Painted Bunting
provided another highlight to the day list, of course, as did the timely
arrival of a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron on a conspicous perch at Long Point,
but we could dig out only a precious few more of our sought after farmland
birds to end the day at 172 species.  I believe our shared total was two
less than the overall count, with Wilson's Warbler missed by two of us and
Wilson's Snipe by one.  Hardly room for a single complaint, though, and we
returned northeastward quite content. It will never cease to amaze me that
that many species of birds can be found in KY in a single day!

As an epithet, in only about 1/2 day of birding on the following day, Jon
Dunn and I added NINE species that we had not seen on Tuesday, including
four Green-winged Teal, two Ruddy Turnstones, two flocks of Willets, a
Sanderling, a Semipalmated Sandpiper, a Stilt Sandpiper (obviously the
shorebirds were much better!), a Common Tern, an American Redstart . . .
and, of course, the California Gull!

bpb, Louisville
brainard.palmer-ball@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
================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