FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Red-necked Grebe & Black Scoter at Pace Point; 12-4-07

[<birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

12/4/07
KY Lake areas of Henry Co (Pace Point area, Paris Landing, Britton Ford)
I spent most of the day around the Pace Point area, and didn't have time to get 
to Port Rd etc. to see what the loons looked like as they went to roost.

I started at Rocky Point, and the highlight here were the looks at and numbers 
of Red-breasted Mergansers. One string that swam by Rocky Point had 140 birds 
in it, and there were at least this many more in the area. Loon numbers weren't 
very high today, with only about 30 visible from Rocky Point. Another 30 or so 
were seen from other points, but nothing like previous trips. Horned Grebes 
were literally everywhere, I should have counted them but didn't. 

Most of my day was spent at Pace Point. I spent over 2.5 hours here, either 
looking at the Point itself or at the ducks in the bay on the Big Sandy side. 
There were easily 6000-7000 divers in this area, mostly Lesser Scaup and 
Ruddies of course. Quite a few Redheads and Cans mixed-in, but the number of 
Greater Scaup blew me away. They are usually present in decent numbers in this 
flock, but at times today the majority of Scaup in a scope field would be 
Greaters. I had gotten to almost 500 Greaters when I scanned across a 
Red-necked Grebe (finally) in the open water behind the rafts. It never got 
close, and I only saw the one bird. This makes the 3rd winter in a row that at 
least one Red-necked Grebe has been in the area. I looked for the bird for a 
minute on my way out, and didn't pick it back up. The 500 Greater Scaup is far 
and away the most of these birds I've had in a day before. There were also 30+ 
Greaters at Coot Bay on the way out of Pace Point.

Otherwise, very few gulls around except Bonies (guess they are all in Tunica!). 
Common Goldeneye are scattered around everywhere now. After walking out to see 
around the Point and turning back towards my car, I noticed a duck on the sand 
at Pace Point, just across from where I was parked. This duck was a female 
Common Goldeneye, and about 5 feet from her on the sand was a sleeping Black 
Scoter (I'm sure they had been there all along). Through the naked eye the 
Scoter just looked like something that had washed up on the sand. I've seen a 
few Black Scoters around Pace Point, but this is the 1st one actually on Pace 
Point! I enjoyed this bird for a while, with it moving nothing but it's head. 
Before I left it finally put its bill back over its back and adopted the pose 
favored by the Black Scoter at TVA Lake right now. I saw it reposition itself 
slightly once, revealing a touch of pale on the belly, so a 1st-winter bird.

There are thousands of waterfowl in the bay at the new observation platform, 
but at present most require looking through willow trees. I had 5 Bald Eagles 
up soaring here today, but no Golden. I saw a Golden here one day, over a month 
ago. Hopefully there is at least one using the refuge regularly again this 
year. 

Britton Ford was literally dead. Lots of birds, but all are out in the big 
water at the edge of vision. Nothing in the bay at the observation platform 
yet. Highlight at Britton Ford were two Ross's Geese among some Canada Geese. 

Paris Landing was also very slow. The island that the gulls like was ruled by a 
pair of Peregrine Falcons. There were maybe 50 gulls huddled down at one end, 
but nothing interesting. I spent some time watching the Peregrines interact. 
The male is tiny, and  almost unmarked white below, a striking bird. The female 
is much buffier below. At times they would be side-by-side, but she would tire 
of his company and he would hightail it to another spot on the island. They 
repeated this several times. One time she chased him on foot, which was rather 
comical. For all the grace they have in the air, they have absolutely none of 
it while shuffling about on the ground. 

I have posted a few shots of the beached Black Scoter. They are in the winter 
2007 gallery and start here: http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/image/89902661 , the 
1st shot was through my regular camera, and the others were digiscoped.

Good Birding!!

Mike Todd
McKenzie, TN
birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.pbase.com/mctodd


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