Mark Monroe and I visited west KY Wed-Thurs. We spent all of Wednesday in the
Lower Hickman Bottoms of Fulton County, in part with Clay Bliznick. Our main
target was field birds, so we walked several fields that we hoped might be
attractive to Smith's Longspurs (a few of which had recently been seen in NW
Tennessee.
No luck with the Smith's, but we didn't really feel like we found any great
habitat. Highlights included flyover flocks of Snow and Greater White-fronted
Geese, 7 Sandhill Cranes, a Short-eared Owl, at least 3 Western Meadowlarks,
small numbers of flyover Lapland Longspurs, a single male Brewer's Blackbird,
and at least 3 LeConte's Sparrows. There will be pics of some of these birds on
eBird lists.
Yesterday, Mark and I birded the Calvert City landfill and Ky Dam vicinities.
We made a trip up to Smithland Dam but there wasn't much activity there. On
Kentucky Lake, Mark found 3 scoters, a White-winged and 2 Surf. There were
plenty of scattered loons, and while we *think* we saw the Pacific reported
from the previous day, heat waves and wind made conditions much harder and we
simply couldn't be sure. Also below Ky Dam were an adult and a first-year
Thayer's Iceland Gulls (photos to be placed on eBird list).
At the landfill, there was a nice group of loafing birds on the CleanEarth side
and we found at least 6 dark-mantled (3rd yr. to adult) and 4 first-year Lesser
Black-backeds. Plenty of Herrings but nothing else among the 2500+ birds. We
did have at least one Fish Crow, a flyover Lapland Longspur and a small flyover
flock of 5 Brewer's Blackbirds. At the Arkema pond at Haddox Ferry Road the
Great Egret reported a couple of days ago by Tammie Vied Smith was still
present.
bpb, Louisville
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