FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Cave Swallows / Mississippi River / Memphis, TN

[OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx]

September 30, 2006
Mud Island
Shelby, Co. TN
 
A couple of years back in the fall, I had a swallow at the mouth of the  Wolf 
River, where it joins the Mississippi; that bird had a dark forehead, pale  
rump, throat and collar. The only photo that I got of it just  showed it's 
back. This area always has a build up of swallows in the fall,  with huge 
numbers 
feeding over the water and roosting on the high power lines  that cross the 
Wolf at that point. Since that time, in the Fall,  I always sit and scan the 
area every weekend or whenever I have time and  I'm in the area.
 
Today, that paid off with two distant, light rumped swallows. I've had no  
Cliff Swallows at that location for over a month, so I kept up with these 
birds. 
 Finally they came down the river toward me and fed together close enough to 
see  the head and breast well enough for an ID. It was difficult to keep up 
with  these birds but I had them off and on over a 3 hour period. Trying to  
photograph feeding swallows is tough but out of all the blurry photos, one does 
 
show the head and throat with the diagnostic features for Cave Swallow.
 
This afternoon, I returned to find the swallows and swifts had moved  to the 
tree line on the other side of the river. I could only see silhouettes  
against the setting sun. Mike Todd is driving down in the morning and we  will 
be 
looking for these birds after 9:30 or 10 AM.
 
Cave Swallows are evidently extending their normal range northward as  they 
disperse in the fall. Since, I found my lifer in Alabama years ago, they  have 
shown up all along the northeastern coast and again in many areas on the  
Great Lakes. Charles Mills photographed a young bird and found a nest in  
southwest Arkansas this past spring plus the birds are now nesting in  
northwest Texas.
 
The pits at Ensley held Killdeer, thousands of Least Sandpipers, 1 Pectoral  
Sandpiper, 1 Solitary, 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper, 4 Western, 2 Stilt Sandpipers 
 and 55+ Lesser Yellowlegs. Savannah Sparrows have been seen there for 2 
weeks  and today I found a Lincoln's Sparrow. The Lark Sparrow that was present 
 
for 2 weeks was not found today.
 
Watch your swallows!! I'll post the best photo or hopefully  photos of the 
Cave Swallow soon.  
Good Birding  !!!

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



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