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

[OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx]

Dec. 7, 2005
Mud Island, TVA Lake
Robco Lake - Shelby Co. TN
 
A quick but late trip to a few duck places Wednesday just whet my appetite  
for more. At Mud Island there were a few interested ducks and gulls. One small  
duck had me confused as it slept and floated with a small mixed group. The 
bird  was smaller than the Goldeneyes, same size but slimmer than the scaup and 
just  slightly larger than the Buffleheads but had all the markings of a 
Red-breasted  Merganser. Just a runt, but female Smew did run through my mind 
and 
if it had a  black bill, I'd have been scrambling for a photo. Interesting 
study. There were  40 plus Ring-billed Gulls and a single Bonaparte's loafing 
and 
hunting.
 
At TVA Lake, there was quite a mix with a few thousand scaup of both  
species, Redheads, Canvasback, Gadwall, Mallard, Shoveler, Ring-necked, Ruddy  
and 2 
pair of Goldeneye. There were also coots, Pied-billed Grebes, DC  Cormorants 
and lots of Ring-billed and a few Bonaparte's Gulls.
 
I was not expecting what I found just at dusk on Robco Lake, it was covered  
with ducks, many, many thousands of scaup plus DC Cormorants and masses of  
gulls. It was too late to do much but this bunch will take some time to sort  
through. The birds pushed south by the snow to the north should provided some  
goodies for the up coming CBC's.

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