FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] RPT: West KY Sept 10-11

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

Some highlights while visiting a few sites in western Kentucky Sept
10-11: Being within striking distance of Hap's Red Knot on Monday
afternoon, I was able to see it and the Wood Storks were certainly a
real bonus! Earlier in the day in Henderson County, the humid conditions
were quite stifling and only a few common passerine migrants were
encountered. Right before dusk I saw about 250 American White Pelicans
on an island in Lake Barkley out from the mouth of Energy Bay; and the
first wooded island south of the powerline crossing of the lake near
Silo Overlook/Empire Farm had at least 150 roosting egrets (I got there
too late to see what all was there in addition to ca. 50 Great Egrets
and a dense group of 100+ smaller egrets).
 
On Tuesday morning, the heat was gone and a brisk north breeze under the
cloudy skies forced out the sweatshirt for the first time since April! I
was over near the Mississippi River so I stopped at a couple of spots to
see if anything was moving. In perhaps a little more than an hour total,
evidence of migration included a few flocks of Blue-winged Teal
streaking by; two flocks of American White Pelicans overhead (22 & 37
birds); one flock of cormorants; 3 Ospreys; 2 Merlins (one of which
stoppped on a sandbar and got a drink); plus another large falcon that
was probably a small Peregrine but may have been another Merlin.
Shorebirds were still practically non-existent and all I saw of note
were single Buff-breasted and Sanderling. Thirteen Bald Eagles were
probably mostly locals and not on the move; at two spots on sandbars I
noticed large patches of whitewash and small white feathers on higher
points on the bars; the north breeze still had feathers flying down the
sand and I suspect that these were locales where roosting flocks of
pelicans sat and loafed in between migratory flights during the previous
day or two ... pretty neat.
 
A quick run by Mitchell Lake at Ballard WMA yielded about the same
results as previous reports, although the number of Stilt Sandpipers had
increased to at least 35 and many Pectorals had departed. Four
Buff-breasted Sandpipers were in the short grass at the north end of the
lake. The Paducah water reservoir on the east side of Husband Road had a
nice flock of 34 Black Terns and a Least Tern foraging over it.
 
On my way back east I stopped at the Camp Mines in Union County and had
about 10 species of shorebirds including an adult American
Golden-Plover; 16 more Stilt Sandpipers; and 3 Short-billed Dowitchers.
 
bpb, Frankfort