Missbirders,
This morning Mark Dolan and I birded at Coldwater River NWR, which is
southwest of Batesville, straddling the Quitman/Tallahatchie Co. boundary.
There continues to be great shorebird habitat near the observation tower,
and this morning we had 15 species of shorebirds, including lots of
PECTORAL, LEAST, and SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, a single AMERICAN AVOCET, one
WILSON'S PHALAROPE, and good numbers of SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS chasing each
other over the mudflats. Our best bird was a lone AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER,
which was a nice surprise, as it is earlier than other records on eBird for
Mississippi by about 10 days (and I'd be curious to hear early arrival
dates from others who have non-eBird records at hand).
We also had a single fly-by BLACK TERN, lots of WOOD STORKS, and were able
to relocate 5 of the NEOTROPIC CORMORANTS found there by Hal Mitchell on
Sunday, obtaining some cool flight comparison photos with Double-crested
Cormorant.
eBird checklists with some embedded photos are linked below:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31116445
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31116444
Good birding!
Jason Hoeksema
Oxford, MS
