FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Paris Landing to Big Sandy Flats

[OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx]

Nov. 7, 2004
Henry and Benton Co. TN


After meeting up with Mike Todd and Ken Allen and counting over 500 Common 
Loons around Pace Point on Friday afternoon (over 400 while standing at one 
place) which evidently had just arrived as Ken had been there on Friday 
afternoon 
and found only 20-30 birds, I decided to stay over rather than go to Reelfoot 
on Sunday.

Ken and I worked the west side from Paris Landing to the Big Sandy flats 
searching for something hidden in the masses. Out in the Eagle Creek area, we 
had 
20 plus Forster's Terns, 100 plus Ring-billed, 20 Herring Gulls and lots of 
ducks using what little flats were present. The best birds there were a couple 
of Western Sandpipers, a single male Brewer's Blackbird that Ken needed for his 
TN List and a single Franklin's Gull. 

At Paris Landing, the island out from the bridge was still under water and 
gulls were scattered all over the lake. A few pods of Common Loons could be 
seen 
in the distance but nothing that peaked our interest.

There was little to see from Port Road, a few Common Loons and regular gulls, 
but at Trailer Road, we had a group of 87+ Common Loons, diving and calling 
less than a 75 yards from shore. We could see every detail as they fished and 
frolicked, from the beads of water rolling off their backs to their red/brown 
eyes that glared at us. They were in various states of plumage from young to 
old, from near breeding to winter. Another Franklin's Gull rested on the water 
at this location.

At Britton Ford, there was a horde of ducks, but unfortunately just as we 
arrived a boat roared into the restricted area and proceeded to flush all the 
birds to very distant locations making it hard to see what was there. The boat 
fished in the area the whole time we were there but we tallied 14 species of 
waterfowl. Crows were seen in unprecedented numbers feeding and raising a 
raucous 
cry when disturbed.

The farmer again destroyed the LeConte's Sparrow habitat, it is a shame this 
cannot be delineated to keep this from happening as it is the easiest place to 
find and see a number of these jewels in TN. I would gladly pay whatever the 
price that he could make off these marginally productive areas to see it 
managed for these birds but.......We had Vesper and White-crowned Sparrows in 
the 
mix of the regular wintering sparrows.

The best or at least most unexpected bird of the day was an immature 
Broad-winged Hawk that allowed us to view it both front and back for an 
extended 
period of time. There were high flying Red-tails everywhere with one dark morph 
western in the bunch.

At the Big Sandy Flats, we were stymied again by high water although we saw 
hundreds of Green-winged Teal at this location in among the other regular 
species. There were a few Forster's Tern at this location; we found them 
everywhere 
on the day.


Good Birding!!!

Jeff R. Wilson
OL'COOT / TLBA
Bartlett, TN


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