[TN-Bird] Birds from TOS weekend (long)

[<birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Feb. 8,9,10 2008
KY Lake areas of Henry Co
(Primarily Rocky and Pace Point, Britton Ford, Paris Landing)

There was a good turnout for the meeting at KY Lake this weekend, with the 
wind holding off for the most part until today thankfully. Numbers of birds 
overall were quite a bit less than you expect up here this time of year, 
especially loons. Still, we saw some nice birds, and got some great looks at 
some birds that some folks may not see that often in other areas.

Highlights by day (excuse me if I omit or get some names wrong, as I met 
many folks for the 1st time and I'm terrible with names to start with)

 2/8/08
I arrived at Britton Ford about 13:00 on Friday afternoon, and immediately 
had 2 Cackling Geese amongst all the Canada Geese out from the observation 
area. They flew around the corner and out of sight immediately, just a few 
minutes before Bill Pulliam arrived. We never saw them again the rest of the 
weekend. They have been very hit-and-miss up there this winter. Lots of the 
usual waterfowl, and the pond across the road from the overlook had several 
Redheads amongst a horde of Ring-necked Ducks. We would have great looks at 
these birds, in great light, both subsequent days. Also here were three 
Ross's Geese and three Snows, which would also be seen again several times 
over the next couple of days.

One of the highlights of the weekend for me was seen in the next cove. Among 
100+ Greater White-fronted Geese and the usual assortment of diving and 
puddle ducks, was the most gorgeous American Wigeon I have ever seen. This 
bird appeared in all ways to be pure American Wigeon, except the usually 
gray head was an unmarked creamy yellow, and normally subdued green stripe 
was so bright it would put a Mallard to shame. This was the 1st of these 
birds I have seen, but I've since found a couple of photos online that match 
it, this is a link to a bird that is a dead-ringer: 
http://www.birdsasart.com/bn188.htm , the 3rd photo down the page is an 
almost exact-match, except the bird at Britton Ford is a tad more yellow. 
Rick Knight got a glimpse of this bird on Saturday and said they had a 
similar bird a year or two ago over on the east end of the state. I hope to 
get a photo of this bird of my own soon.

Bill and I left Britton Ford and hit Paris Landing, where we got great looks 
for comparison at Greater and Lesser Scaup. We ran into the Routledge's 
here, and after looking through the various rafts of birds here, with glassy 
water and great light, we decided to check Port and Trailer Rd's. We should 
have stayed at Paris Landing. Loon numbers are a fraction of what they have 
been, with a group of about 10 the largest pod seen. We got back to Paris 
Landing and found a sizeable number of TN Birders enjoying a spectacular 
sunset over KY Lake.

2/9/08
The weather was calling for gusty winds, which luckily didn't really 
materialize at all until late in the day, and not bad then. The number of 
people surprised me, with about 10 cars in the caravan, but we managed to 
not lose anyone all day! Daniel Moss and Donna Ward carpooled with me, and 
Daniel mentioned having a Peregrine coming over the Paris Landing Bridge 
that morning. We left Paris Landing and drove straight to Rocky Point on the 
Big Sandy Refuge. Only a handful of loons, and nothing much else at all 
here. Pace Point was similar, though there were enough birds in the bay 
there to keep us occupied for a while. Among these were a couple of 
Red-breasted Mergansers, which were uncommonly scarce. From here we went to 
the big bay at the new observation platform. This is where I had an adult 
Golden Eagle earlier in the week, so hopes were high, but we had to settle 
for a soaring Bald Eagle in the distance. Ducks were scarce here as well.

After leaving here, and eating at Big Sandy, Britton Ford was next. The 
overlook produced distant looks at numbers of Canvasbacks that can't be 
imagined in most other areas of the State. Here a distant Eagle was picked 
up soaring in, which was an adult Golden! Everyone got at least binoc looks 
at the bird, and most got scope views. This bird would be seen two more 
times over the next hour or so, for at least 30 minutes worth of viewing. 
Not my closest look at a Golden in TN, but my most prolonged. This is only 
the 3rd time this winter I've seen a Golden in the area, each time an older 
bird. May be only one in the area this year.

After enjoying this bird and getting smashing looks at the Redheads in the 
pond across the road, we moved down to the next bay, where the variant 
American Wigeon was the day before. Very soon after we set up, I found the 
creamy Wigeon in a group swimming out of the cove, just then a car came by, 
and only Hap Chambers got the bird on the water before everything flew, and 
at least one other, Rick Knight, saw it in the air. Very disappointing that 
more folks couldn't see that bird. A nice Red-headed Woodpecker here was a 
treat for many, as several scopes were lined-up on this bird, until the 
Golden Eagle was again picked up from here.

We left Britton Ford, and had high hopes for Paris Landing, as it was very 
productive the day before. But, wind and wave action was up, and most birds 
were quite distant. The big groups of Scaup were too distant to do much 
with, and no interesting gulls were seen. It was late by this point, most 
folks called it a day, while a few of us made a quick, and unproductive run 
to Eagle Creek campground and Trailer Rd, before calling it a day.

2/10/08
Most people went their separate ways this morning, but a few were at Britton 
Ford when I got there. I had an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull sitting in 
the field there with the Ring-billed Gulls as I came in the north entrance, 
and was able to get the rest of the folks back there to add a trip bird 
anyway. It took a little while, as the birds moved over the rise, but we 
finally got fantastic looks at this bird as it came right overhead after the 
group flushed. Other birds in the area were a Rusty Blackbird (Ed LaGrand) 
and Beth had a group of Sandhill Cranes in a corn field off of Oak Grove Rd 
on her way in. They are a rare treat over here. I had planned to go back and 
look for them, but as we stood there after watching the Lesser Black-backed, 
we heard a bugle and got a quick look at 13 Sandhills flying off in the 
distance.

I was hoping for another shot at a photo of the Wigeon, but that bay was 
pretty much empty of birds all morning, and it wasn't seen anywhere else. A 
quick look at the observation platform produced nothing in the way of 
waterfowl, but a couple of Tree Swallows zipping by was nice. This pretty 
much wound my birding up for the weekend. Though it was pretty birding slow 
by KY Lake standards, it was still a great weekend. I enjoyed birding with 
everyone; meeting some new folks, and seeing some that I hadn't seen in a 
while.

Good Birding!!

Mike Todd
McKenzie, TN
birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.pbase.com/mctodd

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