[TN-Bird] Birding NW TN - Surprise mating!

From: OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 23 May 2011 08:28:29 -0400 (EDT)
May 22, 2011
Lauderdale, Dyer
and Lake Co. TN
 
Went north to join Criswell for a day of searching out  shorebirds in the 
flooded fields, lots of surprises. Glen had found an adult  Herring Gull, an 
Avocet (same one Whit had seen earlier in the day), and 11  HUDSONIAN 
GODWITS the afternoon before, unfortunately none remained in  place.
 
The first surprise was 7 adult WHITE IBIS at the Hatchie  River off of 51 
Hwy plus the first of many concentrations of WIND BIRDS in Dyer  Co. one 
group of 64 Dunlin in dress, a Caspian Tern, 2 Forster's Terns and Least  Terns 
everywhere. At one location sitting on partially flooded gravel roads we  
counted 400 Least and 1 Black Tern near Mooring.
 
Great Egrets also were scattered in every field, 119 flew in  at one time 
to a field in Lake Co. Snowy Egrets out numbered Little Blues by a  large 
factor and groups of Green Herons were seen all day with expected large  
numbers of Great Blues and 3 groups of Cattle Egrets. Cormorants were scattered 
 
in low number and there were no more than 6 birds of  any kind seen on 
Reelfoot Lake, which now has much water.
 
After counting for a while, we gave up on shorebirds,  especially when a 
Peregrine kept the masses at Mud Lake stirred, another  Peregrine was seen at 
Black Bayou. Quite a few raptors were seen along the way,  11 Bald Eagles, 
Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, Cooper's, Kestrel, MS  Kites, 2 Osprey 
and Broad-winged Hawks.
 
The numbers of Semipalmated Sandpipers, White-rumped and  Dunlin were mind 
numbing off the Great River Road, Hwy 103 and 104 and  along Robinson Bayou 
Road. The BIG SURPRISE of the DAY was not the 4 AVOCETS we  found, but 
watching 2 of them MATE!! They will have to hurry to get to their  nesting 
grounds to the west, but why not stay? of course there were hundreds of  
Black-necked Stilts copulating all around, up and down the flooded fields so  
"Monkey 
See/ Monkey Do", might apply...............
 
We totaled 18 species of Wind Birds including the above plus;  1 Golden 
Plover, 1 Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Semipalmated Plovers, Spotted  
Sandpipers, 1 late Solitary, 1 Greater Yellowlegs found at sunset, hundreds  of 
Lesser, Least, Pectoral Sandpipers, 7 Stilt Sandpipers, in breeding plumage,  
2 bright Short-billed Dowitchers, 2 Wilson's Snipe. There is no telling what 
 those vast flooded areas hold in numbers and species.
 
A pair of 2nd summer LAUGHING GULLS, one more advanced  than the other were 
seen at 2 different locations off of Robinson  Bayou Road in the morning 
and afternoon.   
Good  Birding!!

Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA
6300 Memphis-Arlington  Road
Bartlett, TN  38135
http://www.pbase.com/ol_coot/
What is  this feathered thing that  lifts my heart to the  heavens.


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[TN-Bird] Birding NW TN - Surprise mating!

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