I "had" to take the day off today for an appointment in Paducah, so I
decided to go on to Wickliffe afterward and spent a few hours at the
Jefferson Memorial Cross overlook near the confluence of the Ohio and
MIssissippi rivers, hoping that some migrating raptors might take advantage
of the wind conditions.
While I had limited luck with the raptors (a couple dozen of each of the
vultures, a few Buteos (no broad-winged), and 6 eagles), I must have seen
1000 Monarchs migrating over, some of which stopped in for a look at the
flowers there at the park. Only about 10% of them could be seen by the
naked eye, and the rest I saw while scanning for raptors with binoculars. I
would love to know how many flew over in the 3 hours while I was there.
The most numerous bird of the day...the American Crow (I love crows)! There
were several flocks scattered in the fields between Calvert City and
Wickliffe, which brings me to my last point.
I stopped by the landfill in Calvert City, where there were a couple
hundred more crows and numerous vultures, but the gulls have begun to mix
in. There were maybe 100-200 gulls. I didn't stay long enough to scan them,
just wanted to see if any were there. So it appears we are in the seasonal
transition between the domination of the vultures and that of the gulls at
the landfill.
Oh, and it was a really nice day to be birding.
Jeremy Teague
Calvert City, KY
