[birdky] Sooty Tern photos

Following up on Jeff's post to TN-Birds, what an incredible couple of days! I had expected such, and already made arrangements to be off Monday night, when I was (pleasantly) awoken by Jeff's call of Sooty Tern mid-day Monday. It cost me one of my last vacation days (and a serious lack of sleep:"), but it was better than all expectations.

This would be the 3rd time I'd chased Sooty Tern in TN, but this time I had Sooties within 5 minutes of getting to Bruton Branch where Jeff was. I thought the days of getting 3 TN birds in a day were long gone once I got near the 340 mark in TN, but this hurricane proved me wrong. Monday produced two State birds (Sooty and Bridled Tern), and one lifer in the Parasitic Jaeger. The 4th State bird of the weather system, the Royal Tern on Tuesday, was the icing on the cake.

This has to be one of the "best" hurricanes on record for the variety of birds transplanted to the TN/KY areas. With several dozen Sooty Terns scattered around both states, as well as Bridled and Royal Tern, Parasitic Jaeger, and Brown Pelican in TN, and Brown Noddy and Audubon's Shearwater in KY. Who would have ever thought that with 7 species of terns in the Pickwick area over the 2 days, that Sooty would be the most numerous!

Jeff got some nice shots of the Sooty Terns as well, but I have posted a couple on my website. They aren't great by any means, as conditions were pretty lousy on Monday when I took these. Trying to digiscope highly active birds in terrible conditions also adds another level of challenge as well. We could never get over 2 Sooties in a frame, but I have included one shot of two birds. These are in my Sooty Tern gallery at: http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/sooty_tern , the 1st two shots are from Pickwick, the 3rd is from a pelagic trip a couple of years ago.

The way the storm season is shaping up already, we may all get more chances to go on some freshwater pelagic trips!

Good Birding!!

Mike Todd
McKenzie, TN
Carroll Co.
birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.pbase.com/mctodd

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