[birdky] Recent Observations
- From: David Roemer <dlroemer@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bird ky <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 07:38:39 -0800 (PST)
Dec 17 w/ Valerie Brown/ Bowling Green CBC
Merlin
Bonaparte's Gull
Chipping Sparrow (25+)
Rusty Blackbird (12)
Dec 18 w/ Blaine and Elizabeth Ferrell Mammoth Cave CBC
Bald Eagle (5 at First Creek Lake)
Purple Finches and Pine Siskins
Barren pm
Gadwall
Am Black
Mallard
No Shoveler (~10)
No Pintail (3)
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback (2)
Greater Scaup (24)
Bufflehead
Sandhill Crane (~120 dropped in near the Narrows)
Dec 20 Hodgenville CBC
Snow Goose (8)
Common Loon
Palm Warbler
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Rusty Blackbird
Purple Finches and Pine Siskins
I made a trip to western Kentucky on December 21 and 22. The Brown Pelican was
present below Ky Dam both days. I checked the area near Black Bayou in
Tennessee in the afternoon for the Chestnut-collared Longspurs that Mike Todd
had discovered a couple of days before but missed those birds. There were a
few thousand Lapland Longspurs in that area but the gusty winds made if very
difficult to hear the birds as they swirled about the fields. A drive around
the Lower Hickman Bottoms in Kentucky turned up a few hundred Lapland
Longspurs.
I spent the last three hours or so of the day at the Long Point Unit of
Reelfoot. The clear skies and strong northwesterly winds prompted a nice
southward movement of waterfowl and gulls. Flocks of Snow and Greater
White-fronted Geese could first be heard and then spotted high in the sky as
they made their way along the Mississippi River before dropping in at Long
Point. Southbound flocks of Ring-billed Gulls were in sight all afternoon.
By the end of the day there were thousands each of Snow and white-fronted geese
with at least 30 Ross's seen in the mix. Also present were 4 Lesser Canada
Geese, B.c.parvipes, and a dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk.
A fabulous duck migration occurred also with lines of mostly Mallards
southbound all afternoon. They were following a line a mile or two east of
Long Point, with many of the birds so high I couldn't see them with the naked
eye but would spot them while watching lower flocks of geese. It's amazing how
many birds overfly Kentucky.
I began the morning of the 22nd at the longspur spot in Tennessee but missed
the Chestnut-collareds again. When I returned to the Lower Hickman Bottoms it
became apparent that there had been a tremendous influx of longspurs with at
least 4000 present at scattered locations. I spent the remainder of the
morning going through them but didn't hear or see anything other than Lapland
that I'm aware of. Also present were 3 Western Meadowlarks and a female
Brewer's Blackbird.
Closer to home, there has been a juvenile Snow Goose present at Griffin Park in
Bowling Green since the first of December. It has become so tame while at the
park with domestics that it comes running for a handout with them and will
almost eat out of one's hand. Snows occasionally spend prolonged periods here
and provide a nice opportunity to study molt in young birds.
Joanie and I are still hosting siskins at our feeders most days with at least 2
this morning.
David L. Roemer
Bowling Green
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