[TN-Bird] 7 species of Gulls at Reelfoot, 2/19/05!

2/19/05
Van Works Rd, (5 miles northeast of Tiptonville, off of Hwy 78)
Lake Co.

All,

Jeff Wilson and I combined forces today (helped me a lot, didn't do him much 
good!), and had a phenomenal day. I am a little pushed for time right now, I 
will get more details and hopefully a shot or two out soon. This email is 
just an update on the Gull situation near Reelfoot, after the terrific day 
Jeff and Co. had last weekend. Jeff and I arrived at Van Works a little 
after 13:00, and stayed till near dark. On this cloudy day, the gulls again 
departed for roost at precisely 17:00, just as they had done Sunday.

When I was up Monday, there was water everywhere, and birds were scattered 
out in all directions. Most of this water has dried up, including the spot 
that they had the Iceland and Thayer's last week. Now, all the birds in this 
area are concentrated in the still extensive wet area on the south side of 
Van Works Rd. Birds are trading in and out of here regularly, generally in 
the direction of the Prison Complex. There is always a mass of gulls around 
the Prison, but nowhere to really view the birds.

Jeff and I spent about 4 hours this afternoon just going back and forth 
through the gulls, from Van Works Rd. We had a 1st-winter Thayer's right off 
the bat, as it slept and then traded around some for us. There is a 
tremendous variety of plumages to go through, with hundreds of birds in 
front of us all the time,  none of the time we spent there was dull, even 
when none of the rarities were around. Next, Jeff picked up on an adult 
California, which spent most of its time either sleeping or cleaning.

We spent a lot of time with the California, during which a lot of birds had 
come in from towards the Prison. A scan through the mass of birds finally 
produced the gorgeous 1st-winter Iceland Gull that I was hoping to see! 
Shortly after this, another Thayer's was picked out of the crowd (darker 
than the bird from earlier in the day), and finally a very dark 1st-winter 
Lesser Black-backed Gull.

With the 3 expected species of gull, this gave us 7 species for the day, my 
best ever in TN. We had at least 2 Thayer's, and possibly 2 Iceland's, but 
not at the same time.

There is some great gulling going on right now at Reelfoot! We had some 
other neat birds on the day, I'll fill-in details of them shortly.

Good birding!!

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





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