I spent late Friday and yesterday in western KY trying to come up with some
shorebirds. By late yesterday had finally scratched out a list of 14 species,
but nothing unexpected. David Stone joined me for all day yesterday as we did a
tour from the Mississippi River to Lake Barkley. Think David entered eBird
checklists covering most of the birds.
Friday afternoon I had a promising 10 species at the Eddy Creek embayment on
Lake Barkley including 2 + 1 Western Sandpipers and a couple of Stilt
Sandpipers. Everybody was pretty far out so it took a lot of time to scan thru
them.
On Saturday we started out on the Mississippi north of Laketon, where I
couldn't have been more disappointed with the state of the habitat as well as
the dearth of birds. After several hours of scanning from several spots we had
a whopping four species of shorebirds totaling fewer than 30 birds. Most
interesting bird was a Mourning Warbler with a flock of birds at one stop.
For those with some history of birding the river sandbars, the situation there
is very discouraging. Trees and weeds now obscure many of the vistas where we
used to be able to scan large sections of the bars. And it appears to me that
some of the places that used to form pools that the birds utilized are sort of
scoured out these days, only leaving steeper shorelines that are much less
attractive to the birds. And of course the *****s on ATVs continue to cause
deterioration of some of the old lanes.
Scott Record had told me that there was some shorebird habitat at Mitchell Lake
at Ballard WMA, so we ran up there to take a look. More disappointment. I sure
hope KDFWR is happy with their management for waterfowl there, because they
sure have let the shorebirds down. A place that used to be one of our premier
fall shorebird spots is pretty useless these days. Some habitat there = about
two dozen Killdeer and a Spotty. There was a Merlin there, which I guess could
explain the lack of a few more birds, but doubt it. A quick stop by the Smokey
Road alfalfa fields yielded a nice flock of Killdeer and Horned Larks, but no
other grasspipers.
We then headed to Ky Lake to scan for a good gull but found nothing but Ringers
and Forster's Terns. A stop by Jonathan Creek yielded few shorebirds on the
main flats, perhaps in part due to the presence of another Merlin, but the
Clear Creek bay had several species and a decent number including a
Buff-breasted.
We ended the day at the Little River embayment of Lake Barkley. Unfortunately,
most of the birds at this spot were WAY back in the bay and I actually tracked
down a residential location where the birds could be viewed, but it was really
too late in the day to see everything. Our list at this location included the
best array of the weekend including an American Golden-Plover, two
Buff-breasteds, a Sanderling, a Western Sandpiper, and a Short-billed
Dowitcher. A flock of American White Pelicans could have been summerers or
early migrants. Also there was a FIRST for me . . . two mammals were out
scurrying about way out on the mud bar; at first I thought they must be otters,
but then realized they were ARMADILLOS!!!
bpb, Louisville
