FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] RPT: Livingston County BBS route and Red-necked Phalarope

["Palmer-Ball, Brainard (EPPC OOS KNPC)" <Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxx>]

Yesterday morning (June 20th) I conducted a BBS route in Livingston
County. This route sometimes yields 80 species but I think I only got 77
this year (a darned Whip-poor-will called like crazy up until about a
minute before the route began ... I hate it when that happens!). The
route is especially diverse and includes some Ohio River floodplain
habitat. I began running this route in 1981 but missed some years prior
to the mid-1990s. 
 
This year's highlights were two stops with Great Egrets (probably
nesting with Great Blue Herons along Sugarcamp Creek, a nearby tributary
to the Ohio River); a Worm-eating Warbler passing by one stop long
enough to be identified thru the binocs (probably nesting nearby but not
at the actual stop); a Loggerhead Shrike for the first time since 2002;
Ospreys at their normal spot on a powerline tower at Bayou, KY; and two
Henslow's Sparrows at a traditional field near Burna, KY. 
 
One series of 3 or 4 stops near the route's end along KY 763 had been
greatly altered by a huge tornado that apparently passed through late
last summer according to a local resident. Several woodlots and
treelines, a few barns, and even a house were all missing from the
places I have become accustomed to seeing them over the years! 
 
On my way home, I stopped by the Peabody Camp #9 coal prep plant to see
if Least Terns had initiated nesting. The slurry pond is mostly full and
the terns had much less shoreline to work with this year and sure enough
they have flown the coop. They are probably back out on the Ohio River
between Caseyville and Mt. Vernon, Indiana, where a few small bars are
present. The surprise of the visit was a male Red-necked Phalarope with
a crippled leg. It was hobbling about but seemed to be finding food ...
Red-necks are about as hyper as any bird on earth, and to see one try to
be "itself" with a bum leg in the way was painful! It periodically just
sat down in the shallow water and pecked away at tiny invertebrate food.
Also present at the site with several dozen Mallards entering eclipse
plumage was a single American Black Duck that looked like a drake.
 
bpb, Frankfort