FreeLists / tn-bird / [tn-bird] Heaven on the Mississippi in Tennessee

[OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx]

April 6-7, 2002
Memphis to Reelfoot

Saturday was pretty uneventful, at Ensley the same cast of characters with 
only 4 Golden-Plovers and the same pair of Black-necked Stilts hiding out in 
a small pool. The Bald Eagle still sits tight on the nest, peeking over the 
edge and watching for food deliveries. Lesser and Greater Scaup numbers are 
way down but Blue-winged Teal are filling every wet area. An Osprey made a 
short appearance but headed west and two Great Egrets flew north contrasting 
sharply with the strings of Double-crested Cormorants that lined the sky all 
weekend.

The best came on Sunday when I took almost all day to ride the Great River 
Road from 104 Highway to Reelfoot looking in all the nooks and crannies for 
pockets of Wind Birds. After finding a good area I would sit for as long as 
it would take to scan through all the birds and finding something to study or 
wonder at on every stop. This is my type of birding and it was tops Sunday.

A couple of Osprey startled the birds in one wet field and Bald Eagles got 
ducks, geese and wind-birds up in a couple of places. For the first couple of 
hours the birds were continually watching birds flying high beyond even the 
reach of my 10x's. They would sweep an arc across the sky showing no sign of 
fear or caution until what ever flew even out of their ability to follow. 
Evidently the far blue skies in the early morning was filled with brothers of 
the wind. After 10 it all changed as a bird would fix a stare and slowly sink 
down to the ground. They would glance again and again at who ever was flying 
over and most of their companions would also freeze.  A few times I could 
pick up a Red-tail, Cooper's or even a Harrier moving high and fast but most 
were just phantoms to my feeble senses. After the cloud cover moved in, the 
rest of the day was dedicated to feeding and resting.

American White Pelicans were even found in these flooded fields. Five groups 
totaling 80 birds were seen along my way north. A group of 21 Snow Geese were 
found in a field off of the Tenn-Mo levee.

The Wind-Birds were spread all along the river in flooded fields. The 
Mississippi started falling at the end of last week but not very fast and 
left vast parts of itself in evidence. The Obion-Forked Deer still lay over 
much of the land away from the Mississippi and wet spring habitat is abundant 
for the first time in years in the area.

Here were some of the Wind Bird gleanings:

American Golden-Plovers in 16 locations, total - 948, high number 494
Killdeer - the numbers are down now to mostly resident birds.
Black-necked Stilt - a single Male off the Tenn-Mo Levee
Greater Yellowlegs - 21 locations, total 317, high number 80
Lesser Yellowlegs - 13 locations, total 198, high number 71
Solitary Sandpiper - 2 locations with single birds
Least Sandpiper - a single bird off 103 Highway. 
           More probably were missed due to lush grass growing in the fields. 
Many times I had sat in one place for 20 or 30 minutes only to have a group 
of Pectoral Sandpipers burst into the air right in front of me.

Pectoral Sandpiper - 14 locations, total 1379, high number 279
Dunlin - 2 birds off Tenn-Mo Levee
Long-billed Dowitcher - a single molting into breeding pl. south of 79 
Highway
Common Snipe - only 3 locations? total 126, high number 103

Total Shorebird Species: 11 wonderful species, it's time for a Ruff or 
something better but I'd settle for more of the same.

Good Birding!!!

Jeff R. Wilson
OL' COOT / TLBA
Bartlett Tenn.


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