FreeLists / tn-bird / [tn-bird] West TN - Saturday

[mgreene@xxxxxxxxx]

On Saturday, June 15 I decided to make a run down to Shelby County and see
the nesting Western Kingbirds, etc. and see what other birds I could come
up with.  I had called Jeff Wilson the night before and he said that he was
heading east on Saturday morning to try to pick up a few species that he
needed for the year.  I arrived at The Earth Complex (aka "the pits") at
around 7:30 on Saturday morning.  I quick stop at TVA Lake yielded several
Killdeer and a pair of Black-necked Stilts.  I headed west and stopped at
the towers where the Western Kingbirds were nesting and quickly spotted one
of the adults sitting high atop one of the towers.  From here I headed a
little further wet to the Painted Bunting spot and listened for several
minutes before I finally heard the male singing.  I tried to locate him but
he was not sitting in the open and everytime I started getting close he
would fly a little further away.  I only had brief glimpses of him in the
air.  I did however get excellent looks and the female who was perched at
the top of a bush.  There were also lots of Yellow-billed Cuckoos here and
they were actively calling and flying around carrying food to feed the
their young.  I must have had at least 10 of them at this one spot!  Also
present was a singing male Blue Grosbeak and both Baltimore & Orchard
Orioles.

Leaving here I headed back to the Western Kingbird spot and on the way I
saw Loggerhead Shrike, American Kestrel, Common Nighthawk, and Belted
Kingfisher. I watched the adult Western Kingbirds trading back and forth,
feeding the young in both of the nests.  There were also several Eastern
Kingbirds around.  Driving back down Riverport Road I saw a couple of adult
Yellow-crowned Night-Herons and lots of Wood Ducks, including several with
young, and a couple of Hooded Mergansers.

I left the pits and headed up to Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park in
northern Shelby Co.  I worked at this park one summer in the early nineties
as a naturalist so I'm a little partial but this has to be one of my very
favorite parks in the state.  I picked up several new species here
including Mississippi Kite, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Barred
Owl, and Least Tern.  Passerines included 4 species of vireos, 11 species
of warblers including 4 or 5 Ceruleans (I couldn't get into the bottoms to
search for Swainson's as the gate was locked), Summer & Scarlet Tanagers,
Wood Thrush, and Chipping Sparrow.  I had singing Worm-eating Warblers in
two different spots in the park.  I spent about 3 hours in the park and
then left and headed north up Hwy. 51.

On the way home I went through the Eaton Bottoms in Gibson & Crockett
Counties and the Macedonia Bottoms in Gibson Co. and picked up a few
additional species.  I arrived back home at around 3 pm where I had to do
some yard mowing, etc.

Late Saturday afternoon, my wife, the kids, and I were in Jackson getting
ready to go see the West Tenn. Diamondjacks minor league baseball team play
and we stopped to eat first.  When I walked out of the restaurant I heard
the alarm call of an Eastern Kingbird.  I looked straight up and saw two
Eastern Kingbird mobbing a Cooper's Hawk!  The hawk circled several times
and then flew out of sight in the general vicinity of Union University.
That was my 97th species for the day - not a bad total for 2/3 of a day of
semi-casual birding!

Good birding,

Mark Greene
Trenton, TN

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