[TN-Bird] ChangingTimes / West TN

Sept. 17-18-19, 2004
Ensley to Reelfoot and Back.

I was thinking about chasing a few storm birds Friday but work reared its 
ugly head, so I settled for a late trip to the pits. Ten species of shorebirds 
were seen on a quick run around. Black-necked Stilts were down to about a half 
dozen birds in two family groups. On Saturday they were down to 3 and by Sunday 
afternoon there were none. The first hint that ducks were moving was four 
that dropped in from on high. In their swirling decent, I recognized three but 
the smaller fourth was a surprise, an immature plumaged female Wigeon, hanging 
with the big boys. At TVA Lake was the Osprey that has hung in the sky with 
such grace in recent weeks. It has a favored perch that is almost hidden where 
it 
sits when resting or feeding on the days catch. 

A Snowy Egret decided to go to roost in the reeds and settled down where a 
few Red-winged Blackbirds had tucked themselves in. While watching the Snowy, 
it 
was joined at 5 minute intervals by 3 Least Bitterns that flew in and crawled 
down into the vegetation with in a few feet of the hunkered Snowy Egret. By 
the time I left at 7 PM, there were 165 Mallards, 2 Wood Ducks, 10 Shoveler and 
a single Pintail, fall was in the air in more ways than one.

Saturday, I started at the River and the Mississippi is again hauling trash, 
indicating it is still rising. It had dropped 11 feet in 7 days and now it has 
risen 13 in the same period of time. It has snatched the sandbars back after 
it tantalizingly exposed these possible rarity havens for the umpteenth time 
this year. The pits at Ensley were still changing, the North wind that had 
blown Ivan from our doors here in Memphis, continued to bring in and sweep out 
birds. The horde of Least Sandpipers are still a pleasure to look through and 
the 
seen and unseen raptors kept them and the others in the air in tight 
undulating flocks that at a distance looked more like frantic amoebas rather 
than 
birds. 

Some species are represented by singles now, Solitary, Spotted and Baird's 
made that list. Western Sandpipers finally out number the Semipalmated but one 
adult Semi was looking rough and is late. After waiting for the wind birds to 
settle until noon, which they didn't, I headed north.

At Eagle Lake, I found 9 Killdeer and 12 Least Sandpipers but made up for the 
disappointment with 12 species of warblers and a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher in 
a little hollow in the trees, the exact place I had one this time last year. 
Flycatchers were everywhere but only the YB, Least, Phoebe and Peewee revealed 
their identity. 

I looked for all my old sandy places along the river and finally found the 
Hatchie Bar with head still raised and there I added 2 immature Sanderling and 
a 
Spotted Sandpiper. From the Hatchie north to the Obion River, I had "Nada" on 
the river.

On Sunday, I continued along the river seeing nothing; White Lake, Loop Road 
at 103, Black Bayou were all dry, I know it sure sounds funny to you guys in 
the East but we need rain over this way. The Ibis Hole finally produced with 23 
Killdeer, 33 Lesser Yellowlegs, 4 Greater Yellowlegs, 8 Least Sandpipers, 3 
Pectoral 13 Stilt, 3 immature Short-billed Dowitchers and a Wilson's Snipe 
bringing the weekend total of Wind Birds to 16 species. On the way back south, 
a 
sliver of sand at Tiptonville Landing produced 1 Caspian Tern and 1 Ring-billed 
Gull. Reelfoot Lake did not have ONE tern of any kind but DC Cormorants were 
everywhere.

Back to the Ensley pits late Sunday only to find that the shorebird numbers 
had been whittled to one-third over night!! Hopefully this wind will bring in 
replacements in the next couple of days. Two immature Caspian Terns were seen 
at TVA Lake along with 132 Mallards, 16 Shovels and 27 DC Cormorants. The 
Osprey still hangs...........




Good Birding!!!

Jeff R. Wilson
OL'COOT / TLBA
Bartlett, TN


=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
-----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
----------------------------------------------------- 
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society 
       Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
        endorse the views or opinions expressed
        by the members of this discussion group.
 
         Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
                 wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
          web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    ========================================================

Other related posts: