FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] RPT: W. Ky. Sept. 1-2

["Ben Yandell" <by@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Only a few shorebirds at most stops and almost no migrant passerines, but a
few interesting sightings.

Best finds were:  sanderling, Wilson's phalarope, laughing gull, lesser
black-backed gull, and yellow-bellied flycatcher.


Sept. 1.  Saturday.  

 * SANDERLING juvenile (maybe the same one as last weekend's?) at the
Paradise (Sinclair/Peabody) ash basin (morning).  Hap and Roseanna were
there, too.

 * 4 WILSON'S PHALAROPES midday at Eddy Creek.  They were actively feeding
along the edges of a distant mud/sand bar (seen from the bridge).  Windy and
not the best viewing conditions, but we think they were juvies.  Especially
in the harsh sunlight, they appeared pale gray above, but at certain angles
we thought we might be picking up some unevenness in the feathers on the
back.   Maybe 75-100(?) total shorebirds, many of them least sandpipers, but
many of them on the far shore and unidentifiable.
        Note:  We returned to Eddy Creek late morning today (Sept. 2),
hoping that the more overcast skies and gentler wind might give us better
viewing conditions.  The viewing conditions were better, but the water level
had risen since yesterday, and the bar the phalaropes were on was almost
gone.  Maybe half as many shorebirds as yesterday, most of them killdeer.
No phalaropes to be seen.

 * Jonathan Creek produced Forster's terns and a few other, previously
reported species.  The water level is still very high, so little shorebird
habitat.

 * Late afternoon, Mitchell Lake (Ballard) had 400 (?) total shorebirds,
with pectoral sandpipers seeming most common.  Hunting was in full swing, so
we stuck to the road and could easily have missed something unusual.  Least
terns and an immature black tern were flying around. 


Sept. 2.  Sunday.

 * Kentucky Dam Marina about 6:15 a.m. had 6 ring-billed gulls on the marina
roof.  Birds were beginning to come in, though, and by 6:30 or so the roof
had more than 100 gulls, mostly ring-billed, but including a LAUGHING GULL
(photographed; adult?), a beautiful breeding plumage LESSER BLACK-BACKED
GULL (photographed), and a Bonaparte's gull.
 * Tried a few spots around LBL later in the morning, but not much activity
other than white-eyed vireos, blue-gray gnatcatchers, and n. parula, along
with two Am. redstarts and 1 each of prairie, prothonotary, and blue-winged
warblers.  
  - Boyd's Landing had two hummingbirds with yellowish foreheads.  We were
inclined to believe they were visitors from the tropics, but skeptics will
claim they were ruby-throated hummingbirds with pollen caps, maybe from the
trumpet vine near the parking lot.
  - Along Kentucky Lake Scenic Drive, the best find was a very brightly
colored YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER.  
 * The bar below Smithland Dam had ring-billed gulls and 25 or so Caspian
terns.

Ben and Mary Yandell
Louisville