FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] River Birds and Wind Birds

[OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx]

Oct. 8, 2005
MS RV, Cocklebur Lake
and Ensley Bottoms,
Shelby Co. TN
 
There was little moving down the river but there was a huge number of  Tree 
Swallows everywhere I looked. I found them, at Ensley and all along the  levee 
in large numbers with Rough-winged only along the Levee, where I  also had 
just 2 Barn Swallows. The Chimney Swifts were feeding high and  were scattered 
in 
the morning but they were right down on the river, taking  over the evening 
shift after the swallows had gone to roost. If you want to see  a large number 
of acrobats feeding, go to the north end of Mud Island late in  the evening 
before they head for Peru.
 
Twenty one White Pelicans were seen going south at Mud Island in the  morning 
and in the afternoon 80 plus birds dropped onto a sandbar up river. A  small 
bunch of 14 flew low over the pits and a couple of thousand looked like  snow 
drifts viewed through the trees at Cocklebur Lake right on the MS Line,  west 
of Mud and Horn Lake.
 
At last some variety in the Wind Birds at the pits after a steady diet of  
regulars, a few Killdeer, 1 Semipalmated Plover, 14 Lesser Yellowlegs, 1 
Dunlin, 
 2 Western Sandpipers, 1 molting Long-billed Dowitcher, and of course a 
couple of  thousand Least Sandpipers.
 
The duck numbers and variety also continue to grow at the pits with lots of  
Mallards, with 1 leucistic bird that sat for photos, it is really a strange 
bird  and I'll post the photos soon. Also there were, 118 Northern Shoveler, 4  
Green-winged Teal, 2 Blue-winged, and 1 hen Pintail.
 
At Robco Lake there were a few DC Cormorants and 3 Ring-billed Gulls plus  
again Tree Swallows everywhere.  

Good Birding  !!!

Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA
6298 Memphis-Arlington Road
Bartlett, TN  38135