[birdky] Recent Observations

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








      
================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBERS==============

The BIRDKY Mailing List requires you to sign 
your messages with first & last name, city, & 
state abbreviation.
--------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, send e-mail to:
birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
-------------------------------------------------- 
To unsubscribe, send e-mail to:
birdky-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject line.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
Visit the Kentucky Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.biology.eku.edu/kos.htm
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
BIRDKY List Manager: Gary Ritchison, Richmond, KY
E-mail: gary.ritchison@xxxxxxx

Other related posts: