FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Nests and Nestings

[OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx]

April 2-3, 2005
Shelby-Tipton-Lauderdale-
Dyer and Lake Counties, TN
 
I started Saturday at Ensley Bottoms and found just a sprinkling of  
shorebirds. Little food no birds, in other words a lesson that some should take 
 note 
of - mud flats do not equal shorebirds. It takes thoughtful preparation to  
add the secret ingredient, food. 
 
Killdeer were at scrapes and two nests with eggs, The 6 Black-necked stilts  
were sorting out territories and I watched one unsuccessful coupling. The were 
a  few Lesser Yellowlegs, a single Greater, 9 Pectoral Sandpipers, 4 Least  
Sandpipers and 6 Wilson's Snipe. Robins were setting on nests along with 2  
Red-tailed Hawks and 2 Great Horned Owls.
 
At the fields near the North Treatment Plant were 9 Black-necked Stilts,  
these were the northern most for the weekend. Just north of the  airport there, 
for the 4th year, there is an active Red-tailed Hawk's nest.  At Eagle Lake, 
the numbers of Great Egrets keep doubling on every trip, most of  the birds 
were 
interested in feeding but a few traveling to the rookery. Here I  saw the 
first of 6 pied-billed Grebe nests for the weekend. A quick trip  around 
yielded 
a few Killdeer on nests,  74 Greater Yellowlegs, 15 Lesser,  2 Solitary 
Sandpipers, 19 Pectoral, 2 Least and 8 Wilson's Snipe. Two Harriers,  both 
adult 
female coursed the area and I had 2 Broad-winged Hawks doing display  flights 
over the ridge, my first for the season.
 
At Lower Hatchie the Greater Yellowlegs out numbered the Lesser 96 to 21,  
plus there were 144 Pectoral Sandpipers and 13 Wilson's Snipe. Here I found 3  
active Pied-billed Grebe nests and watched a little extra spousal mating going  
on between two adjoining territories. I got some up close and personal photos 
as  nest building was going on in one territory. I had 2 adult female 
Harriers here  along with 3 immature Bald Eagles and a migrating Sharp-shinned 
Hawk. 
An  unexpected find among the waterfowl, 2 female Goldeneye diving with a few  
Ring-necked ducks.
 
Chickasaw NWR, held fewer shorebirds because the rains had the pools full  
but I had 2 Pied-billed Grebe nests here, it seems they are going to have a  
great year. Just north of the refuge, I found the big numbers of shorebirds I  
had been looking for; 790 Golden-Plovers, 117 Greater Yellowlegs, 64 Lesser, 
345 
 Pectoral Sandpipers and 132 Wilson's Snipe. An adult and an immature Bald 
Eagle  watched over the many ducks still using the area.
 
On Sunday, at Hurd Loop Road, I had 3 flocks of Golden-Plovers with about  
450 total, 126 Pectoral Sandpipers, 9 Greater Yellowlegs, 4 Lesser, and 12  
Wilson's Snipe. All these birds burst into the air, and the area was cleared 
and  
after much scanning I found the cause, a Merlin sat out in the middle of the  
field plucking its catch. I got a couple of blurry shots before it finished 
and  flew to a distant Cottonwood for siesta time. For the third time, I saw 2 
adult  female Harriers, now it became a quest to see an immature bird but it 
just did  not happen. Of the 10 Harriers seen over the weekend all were adult 
female  birds. Last week I had 2 immature males and 1 immature female.
 
I ran into Mike Todd about noon, as I worked my way north at Van Works  Road. 
I saw a distant nest that I had never seen before and after much winding  
around we located a Bald Eagle sitting on a nest. Over all we saw 3 active 
nests  
and then there is the nest at Lake 9 just across the line in KY, which now  
apparently has 2 newly hatched young. I always like to discover a new nesting  
location for Bald Eagles. While searching for another Bald Eagle nest near  
Bessie Bend, I discovered a Red-tailed Hawk in a low nest, near  Cates. There 
were few gulls anywhere to be found and we traveled north to  the Phillippy 
area 
where we ran into Nancy Moore. There was a pretty good  collection of 
shorebirds but it was too weedy to get a good count.
 
Mike and I headed south, down the Great River Road and found flocks of  
Golden-Plover at practically every stop. We probably had 4 to 500 hundred along 
 
with numerous Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs. Near Miston, we ran across a wet  
area and had the highest count of Least Sandpipers for the weekend, 97 plus a  
few Pectoral and a single Solitary. The afternoon vigil from the levee 
revealed  a quick but dense migration (waterfowl and shorebirds)about 30 
minutes 
before  sundown. All day long, there were hundreds of Double-crested Cormorants 
fleeing  northward and finally at mile marker 6 on the Great River Road in Dyer 
 
Co, we had about 300 White Pelicans rise up from the Obion River Bottoms and  
head north.
 
At last light, I picked up a distant dot that eventually flew into range  and 
gave Mike his first of season Broad-winged Hawk; it was using the  ridge at 
Porter's Gap on its trip north.
 
Waterfowl species for the weekend: only 16 species and it is all downhill  
from here.
 
Good  Birding!!!
Jeff R. Wilson
OL'COOT / TLBA
Bartlett,  TN


=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
-----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
----------------------------------------------------- 
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society 
       Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
        endorse the views or opinions expressed
        by the members of this discussion group.
 
         Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
                 wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
          web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    ========================================================