FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] RPT: A few west KY observations 25-26 July

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

I was in western KY part of Wed and Thurs. Despite the recent rains, the
entire area appears to remain on the edge of drought to me. Many "frog
holes" remain dry or very low. In looking forward to winter, cedar trees
seem to have a good crop of berries, but it looks like hollies and
hackberries have nothing; also ... it's going to be up to the red oaks
to provide hard mast; I haven't seen a thing on white oaks, hickories,
and beech. Anyone seeing anything more promising???
 
Bird highlights:
 
Lake No. 9: I arrived there Wed in time to count about 570 Great Egrets
leaving for a roosting site somewhere down on Reelfoot Lake. Very few
small waders were among them. Thursday morning I counted at least 850
Great Egrets from the north end of the lake with hardly a thing in the
south end (there has been some recent disking/mowing, so the birds may
have been frightened away from there for the time being). Also present
were about 100 American White Pelicans, but a car stopped along the road
and they departed. There were only a couple of Snowy Egrets and maybe
35-40 Little Blues in the mix. There were about 450 Mallards/Wood Ducks
and scattered shorebirds, the most interesting of which were single
Short-billed Dowitcher and Greater Yellowlegs. Lake No. 9 seems to be
about the only game in town in western Fulton County; I saw no more than
20 Great Egrets at several other potential late-summer wader spots.
Shrikes were relatively conspicuous, probably because this year's young
have dispersed.
 
Sedge Wrens: one or two were heard at Obion WMA north of Hickman and at
least 3-4 were heard at Lower Beaverdam Slough, Ballard WMA. Hopefully
the habitat at Ballard will not be mowed and a nice little breeding
colony will be close to the road.
 
I think I saw more Missisippi Kites than I've ever seen down along the
river; not large numbers, but small groups in the sky just about
everywhere from Fulton County to Ballard. Might have just been the day
???
 
Travis WMA (Westvaco WMA), Hickman Co.: the Town Creek moist soils unit
is perfect for shorebirds but won't last long. It is currently a carp
graveyard with only a few waders. There were seven species of shorebirds
there including a Semi Plover, 4 Semi Sands, and a very dull adult
Western (amazing how soon they lose their summer garb). Out on the
Campbell Dikes sandbars to the north there were two Sanderlings with a
small mix of peeps and Killdeer. Least Terns were also scattered about
in small numbers, with flying juvs seen several places.
 
There were only a few shorebirds at Mitchell Lake. Hopefully it will
drop a bit more as the shorebird season progresses.
 
Last stop of the day was Camp #11 in Union County. I was disappointed
with what was there overall, but among 5 adult Common Moorhens were a
pair with two downy chicks.
 
bpb, Frankfort