[birdky] Ol'Coot's shorebird reports
- From: HapC1@xxxxxxx
- To: birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 09:40:11 EDT
For those of you who do not read TN birds and have an interest in KY
shorebirds I thought I would copy Jeff Wilson's posts as dated below. He has
been
watching the KY Black-necked Stilts and their nest sites this summer.
Hap
July 5, 2004
The largest and most diverse shorebirds were found in Fulton Co. KY, late in
the afternoon. There were 67 Black-necked Stilts total with 49 in one
location. Most of the birds were unmatched males with a few couples sprinkled
in. In
the 4 locations I located 4 nests for sure and suspected a couple of more by
some behavior witnessed. A lot of the birds were resting and laying on the
ground and could have looked like they were nesting but they were not. One of
the
nests that I had located before had been flooded out and two of the eggs were
left scattered. On the good side, one nest has hatched young, I only saw one
but the parents were widely separated which might mean more. This nest is
remote
from the main colony.
Other shorebirds located were;1 American Golden-Plover in basic plumage w/
photos (Hap Chambers and I had 3 a few years back about the same time and
location in the same plumage), 16 Lesser Yellowlegs, 3 Least Sandpipers and 2
Pectoral Sandpipers w/ photos (these two were loners at two different
locations).
The last find before I had to start the almost 3 hour ride home at 6:30 was a
full breeding plumaged Black Tern (ph) sitting on the flats.
July 11, 2004
At three locations in KY, I had 9 Black-necked Stilts, down as I expected
from the huge number of last week. There are 2 nests at one location as I
watched
for over an hour to see nest tending change overs. I suspected a third nest
but no luck before I had to move on. A pair looked like they were just
hanging
out at another location, while a single flew over at another. I checked for
the adults with young but their wet hole had dried and evidently they had led
their charges away. I had 3 Pectoral and 5 Least to round out the list. I
also
counted over 200 Cliff Swallows feeding and perching over a field of flooded
out corn stubble.
July 18, 2004
Late, in Fulton Co. KY, I watched in fascination as Cliff Swallows flew in
from every direction until one field was almost covered. There was only an
occasional swallow of the other species but all were recorded. I tried to
photograph the congregation but the distance prevented doing the numbers
justice. I've
seen larger numbers of Tree Swallows collect on the river later in the year
but this was the largest number of Cliffs I've ever seen at one time, bar
none.
An estimate of 3,000 was about as close as I could come after blocking off
sections two or three times. Occasionally they would boil up into the blue
sky
and reminded me of the huge flocks of Lapland Longspurs seen in north
Mississippi during the winter. This was group small compared to the huge
roosts or
hundreds of thousands I've seen in Mexico and on the Mississippi, Louisiana
Gulf
Coast but for around here it was a spectacle.
In another field a pair of Black-necked Stilts held close to a nest hidden in
a field. Both were photographed through the scope with their necks stuck
above the vegetation during a change of nest duties. This nest will hatch
this
week.
Good Birding!!!
Jeff R. Wilson
OL'COOT / TLBA
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