FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Gulls at Pickwick Dam

[OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx]

Feb. 7-8, 2004
Pickwick Dam Area
Hardin Co. TN

On my first trip below the dam on Saturday morning, I found my 10th species 
of gull on the Tennessee River for this season. A huge 1st winter Great 
Black-backed Gull was wrestling a big fish away from a much smaller Herring. It 
floated down the river with me tagging along trying to get photos. I finally 
lost 
the bird and started to the other side for a better view. I ran into Ron Hoff 
from Knoxville and informed them of the bird. On the other side I caught 
another look at the gull as it chased a Great Blue Heron down into the 
turbulent 
water and manhandled him for another fish. The bird would float down the river 
and then would go back toward the locks and disappear. 

I finally figured out where these birds were going when they would disappear. 
There is an area where they rest that can't be seen except from the top of 
the bridge and you can't stop there. This bird was very uncooperative until 
late 
that afternoon and then again on Sunday, when I was able to locate the bird 
twice for Kevin Calhoon, Bonnie Johnson and Judy Newsome from Chattanooga. So 
the bird had hung around and the gull numbers steadily increased over the 
weekend. More gates were open on Sunday than Saturday so there is a lot of 
water 
plunging down and serving up fresh fish.

I went north around midday on Saturday and found the bottoms flooded to the 
brim. The wet hole that had been holding all the gulls was a small sea spread 
over many acres. I did pick up Canvasback, Mallard, Lesser Scaup, Green-winged 
Teal, Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Pintail, Shoveler, Redhead, Canada Geese and one 
Snow Goose in the area north of hwy. 64. Ducks and Geese were generally slim 
pickings but I did end up with 14 species for the weekend.

I watched gulls heading south from 64 toward the dam and decided it warranted 
another visit south. I no more than pulled into the dam area at 3:30 PM, than 
there was a nice 1st winter Thayer's making the rounds below the dam and a 
Lesser Black-backed, 1st winter was also there plus another bird I picked up 
moving over the dam that looked interesting. Since the Thayer's was a little to 
far for a flying shot, I decided to chase the unknown bird. Going out I ran 
into Ron and crew and told them about the Thayer's. On the causeway I found not 
one, not two, but three 1st Winter Lesser BB. I got a couple of photos and 
returned below the dam and Ron told me they had found the Thayer's and it had 
patrolled up and down right in front of them. They also thought they had had a 
Lesser BB so there are possibly 4 there at this time. We watched the 3 LBB on 
the 
barge tie ups for a little while, then Ron and Frank decided they go look for 
Short-eared Owls about 4:30. At 5:05 the Great BB came over the dam and 
settled on the upper lake and most of the gull aggregation moved south to the 
roost 
area about a mile or two UP River although they have to fly south. The Great 
BB bathed and splashed and then headed south.

That night Kevin and crew came in and the next morning we started a quest for 
year birds for their lists plus maybe a few Lifers and TN-Birds. We had a 
poor morning although the gulls had increased and we chased after a distant 
bird 
going down river that I was pretty sure was the GBB but no luck. Finally, I 
said let's look for some birds on your list in the bottoms. We found Vesper 
Sparrows at many places plus a Fox among the mix at one location. Then we found 
4 
Palm Warblers which nobody needed for the year but always nice in the winter 
and finally, I saw a distant flock of birds get up and go back to ground, I 
suspected Laps and in the scopes we could see they were Lapland Longspurs, 
another checked off the list.

Back to the dam to set up for a long vigil and there we ran into Phillip 
Casteel and Mary Zimmerman from Nashville. We knocked off a LBB Gull for a 
TN-Bird 
for some and I decided we would be better off watching from the west side to 
get the sun off to one side and after a little while I spotted just a wing 
diving behind the lock and shortly right in front of us, up came a Thayer's. 
The 
time 3:00 PM, so around 3 might be when this bird comes back into the area and 
maybe the best time to look for it. The distance and lighting was perfect. It 
was ooh and aaah time, Lifer and TN-Bird for some. While the girls rested in 
the car Kevin and I found another LBB and suddenly a different and darker 
Thayer's for a great comparative with all the details well studied. We tried to 
locate Phillip but no luck. 

We returned to the east side of the river, actually the north side there, and 
started to search through the mob again. Kevin and I were talking when a big 
bird on the other side caught my eye as it chased another gull. A quick check 
and it was the white-headed, white-rumped, checker board back of the Greater. 
Kevin immediately hung the name "BEAST" on the bird but it disappeared before 
we could get the cool twins out of the truck. The cold wind was still nasty 
today.

 I decided we best go down river and we relocated the bird and everyone got 
great looks as it chased a Herring Gull. It looked like a B-52 chasing a 
fighter plane. TN-Bird for almost everyone. Later from the causeway at the 
staging 
area, where the gulls rest prior to heading south to roost, the GBB came in and 
scattered the whole flock. That was exactly at 5:00 PM so there might be 
another pattern to follow. The bird preened and bathed for a minute and then 
headed south.

The most unbelievable statistic for the weekend was, it was only a 5 Gull 
species outing, we could not find a single Bonaparte's Gull, NOT ONE.....



Good Birding!!!

Jeff R. Wilson
OL'COOT / TLBA
Bartlett, TN


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