[birdky] Licking River Area

Rhonda and I finally got the kayaks out and made the trip from Blue Licks to 
mouth of cedar on Sunday. We were greeted by the albino Red-tailed Hawk as he 
flew up the corridor and directly over our head about 30 feet up. He gave us 
and the Baltimore Oriole in tow a raspy cry. Just about every Red-tail we saw, 
maybe a dozen, was being chased by an Oriole.  We had a nice enough species 
count on Warblers(8), but the number of Parulas and Yellow-throated Warblers 
were down. And there were no kingfishers; this may be due to recent high waters 
keeping the nesting banks flooded. We did have good numbers of Spotted 
Sandpipers(10-12) that were very vocal. I have never heard them make anything 
but a call note before. The only other migrant we observed was a Swainson's 
Thrush.  2 Willow Flycatchers top the list of regulars. The Heron rookery was 
alive and well. There are only 9 nests but most appeared active. Several 
Yellow-billed Cuckoos were heard/seen.

Other notes from the weekend: 1 Shrike in Bourbon County, first time ever 
nesting Tree Swallows on my dad's farm, and 2 Blue Grosbeaks singing just 
outside dad's yard.

Scott
Lexington, KY
smarsh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:smarsh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

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