FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Weekend Birds - Iceland Gulls - Yes

[OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx]

March 5-6-2005
TN-AR-KY
 
Near perfect weather with a little warm south wind on Sunday produced a  
taste of spring.
 
Waterfowl: Working from Ensley in Shelby Co.to Reelfoot and ending at  
Lauderdale WR in Lauderdale Co, the weekend produced 21 species. A single 
Ross's  
Goose at Van Works Road in Lake Co, in a small flock of Snows with 2  
White-fronted Geese and a single Goldeneye at Mud Lake were on one end  of the 
collection with huge concentrations of Shoveler, Green-winged  Teal and growing 
numbers 
of Blue-winged Teal and Wood Ducks at the other.  At last 4 Canvasback were 
found at Lauderdale WR.
 
High water had Turkeys along the edges of flooded woods at 3 locations and  
more Bobwhites were singing than I can recall hearing in a long time.
 
Pied-billed Grebe have been whooping and making crazy noises for a couple  of 
weeks as they pair up; Mud Lake sounded like a jungle movie with up to 4 pair 
 carving out nesting areas. A single Horned Grebe was seen a Champs Pocket  
at Reelfoot.
 
American White Pelicans are scattered on the lake and a few groups were  seen 
soaring over the Mississippi River. The Osprey have returned to Reelfoot  
Lake with 2 seen at Blue Basin and 2 on the lower Lake. I had Bald Eagles on  
nests at 4 locations. The Ensley nest has been abandoned this year but a  Great 
Horned Owl is using an old nest down off the levee and has fuzzy 2  young. 
Eagles were seen on the nest at Wapanocca NWR in AR, another on a  nest north 
of 
Tiptonville and also on the nest at Lake 9 in KY. I got some nice  head shots 
of these regal birds which I'll post later. Harrier numbers are down  only 
slightly but Red-shouldered Hawks are staging courting flights over their  
territories, thus making them appear far more numerous. Cooper's were seen  
sneaking 
in and out of woodlots at 4 locations. There appears to be an influx of  
western type Red-tailed Hawks as I was able to photograph a few over the  
weekend.
 
Shorebirds: At Ensley, I could find nothing but Wilson's Snipe and Killdeer  
and the latter were found everywhere on the weekend with small groups of  
males doing there stop and go routines at they followed single females around.  
Last week I watched a female making a scrape. Greater Yellowlegs were seen only 
 
at Lauderdale Waterfowl Refuge with a total of 8 there along with 38 Lesser  
Yellowlegs, 4 Least Sandpipers, 7 Dunlin, 29 Wilson's Snipe and 7 Long-billed  
Dowitchers. Three Lesser Yellowlegs were found at Mud Lake in Lake Co, and 2 
in  Fulton Co, KY where I also had 5 Wilson's Snipe and a single LB Dowitcher 
at  Lake #9.
 
Vigils totaling 5 hours over 2 days produced 2 Iceland Gulls, single Lesser  
Black-backed and Thayer's Gulls off Van Works Road in Lake Co. Late  Saturday 
afternoon, after a 2 hour wait, I had the small light Iceland in view  for 
about 10 minutes and did not see it again till later on Sunday when  a large 
and 
a small Iceland came in and rested in the huge  flock of Ring-billed, 
Bonaparte's and Herring Gulls. Once the Iceland Gulls  settle down in the mix 
they are 
extremely hard to find due to the lighting and  the distance the flock has to 
be viewed but at least some of these birds  are still around. The pale 
Thayer's can fool you until you see  its primaries. The Lesser Black-backed 
Gull was 
found in  the afternoon on Saturday and the Thayer's was in and out on  both 
days. The Herring Gulls are as varied as they can be, with one adult  
photographed that was as small or smaller than some of the Ring-billed  Gulls.
 
Courtship flights of both Eurasian Collared-Doves and Mourning Doves were  
seen with much strutting, puffing and cooing. I had 4 Short-eared Owls and a  
calling pair of Great Horned Owls, all in view at one time Saturday evening  in 
Obion Co. Fish Crows call continually at the daytime gull roost off Van Works  
Road.
 
A big surprise was found at Wapanocca NWR in AR, where I had a  Black-and 
-white Warbler in a small mixed feeding group. Western Meadowlark  flocks are 
growing with two groups of over a dozen birds each found near  Wapanocca and I 
counted 11 birds off Van Works Road. They are plowing the  corn stubble at this 
location and the birds have moved to the west of their  regular field. 
LeConte's Sparrows were walked up at Bogota in Dyer Co. and Black  Bayou in 
Lake Co. 
Vesper Sparrows were still using the road north of the Bogota  Refuge but not 
as many as we had a few weeks back.
 
The weekend air reeked of spring and things to come!
    
Good  Birding!!!

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



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