FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Tayor's Bend - Cocke County

["michael sledjeski" <mtnsylva@xxxxxxx>]

Douglas Lake (elevation: 957.5), 9/9/07,  5:30 - 8:00 PM, by canoe

Cold front & rain moving in, so we took advantage of the late sunshine & 
went out to the muddiest  flats to see who was stopping over.  When we 
arrived at Dutch Bottoms, there were 100+ shorebirds present, but they all 
took flight as we were unloading.  We went across the lake to Taylor's Bend 
and found a nice assortment of waterbirds.

I was focussing on a greater yellowlegs when a killdeer called an alarm & a 
mass of shorebirds took flight.  The yellowlegs proceeded to sink into the 
water down to its eyeballs, with a hunk of wing feathers showing behind.  It 
slowly resumed feeding  in a couple of minutes, while the peep flock dashed 
back & forth along the shore, then settled approximately where they'd begun. 
  Fine example of energy conservation.

Great egrets were still flying in to the shallows behind the long mudbar 
after sunset.  It appears that they've moved their roost from Leadvale, 6 
miles upriver, closer to the best fishing.  Shorter commute, more energy 
conserved.

Notable, and photographed, at Taylor's Bend today:
Blue-winged teal (63)
Great egret (212)
Great blue heron (43)

Semipalmated plover (12)
Killdeer - many
Greater yellowlegs (5)
Lesser yellowlegs (14)
Willet
Spotted sandpiper (2)
Ruddy turnstone (3)
Solitary sandpiper (3)
Semipalm. sandpiper
Western sandpiper
Least sandpiper
>>>Peeps (80+, didn't pick through for a count, but looked for Baird's)
Baird's sandpiper (1, then at least 4 at Dutch Bottoms in the growing 
darkness)
Pectoral sandpiper (9)
Stilt sandpiper (7)
Short-billed dowitcher (2)

Michael Sledjeski & Leslie Gibbens
Del Rio TN


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