FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] RPT: Miscellaneous observations December 15, 2006

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

I took off for Reelfoot Lake on Friday afternoon and stopped by a few
places on the way.

 

Peabody WMA, Muhlenberg Co ... I was happy to see at least 6
Red-breasted Nuthatches; also had a late Sleepy Orange butterfly that
had survived the first two bouts of cold weather this winter.

 

Reclaimed surface mine in eastern Hopkins County along KY 70 that has
been converted back into farmland ... a really neat assemblage of
raptors including no less than 8 Northern Harriers; 5 Red-tailed Hawks,
2 Rough-legged Hawks, a Merlin and an American Kestrel all viewed from
one spot.  This concentration on the open farmland is much denser than
what we have been encountering in recent years on the reclaimed mines of
Peabody WMA (although it is quite similar to what we USED to see there).
It reinforces the notion that the mines on Peabody are not as attractive
to raptors as they once were (vegetation succession, cycling rodent
populations, and increased level of human use -- or a combination of
them -- have all been implicated without any sound basis for the
theories ... including my own :o). This is first-hand evidence, however,
that such raptor concentrations do still occur in western Kentucky. Also
near this spot I saw two distant swans flying east before landing out of
view.

 

Lake Peewee ... basically just the normal array of Ruddys, coots, and
smattering of Bufflehead and Hooded Mergs. A female Red-breasted Merg
was the most interesting thing.

 

North end of Lake Barkley ... many hundreds of divers, most not IDable
due to the radiation waves; most interesting birds were several dozen
Am. White Pelicans, and small numbers of Redheads and Canvasbacks.

 

North end of Kentucky Lake ... about 2500 gulls came in to roost
including perhaps 750-1000 Bonys. Only gull of note was an adult Lesser
Black-backed Gull. Also had a nice count of 215+ Horned Grebes but only
a couple of Common Loons.

 

bpb, Frankfort