[TN-Bird] Chestnut-collared Longspur still present; Lake Co

12/20/08
Black Bayou area; Lake Co
I'll let Mark post the rest of the details, but just wanted to get a 
(relatively) quick note about the Chestnut-collared. Sorry for the repeated 
post this morning, I tried to send and resend that last night from Nancy's, but 
none actually went thru until this morning.

The Chestnut-collared Longspur was heard, and seen briefly on the ground, by 
Hap Chambers and Melissa Easley, as they were doing that area of the count. 
Later in the day, Jeff Wilson and Mark Greene also heard the bird amongst a 
bunch of Laps; not sure if Gail King heard it or not. All of the times we've 
had this bird; my initially hearing it, Jeff hearing then seeing it, and both 
times today, were all within a 50-yard piece of road. This road is marked 
Donald Rd on the DeLorme, just a couple of miles south of the state line on the 
west side of Reelfoot. The following map has the center point at approximately 
the area we have had this bird the last couple of days. 
http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTExNmIycG51BF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLWJ1dHRvbgRzbGsDbGluaw--#mvt=m&lat6.466719&lon=-89.382326&zoom

Be warned, that we totaled 7500+ Lapland Longspurs on the count today, the vast 
majority at Black Bayou. But, the bird seems to be frequenting this same area. 
When Hap and Melissa had the bird, it was feeding in the grass near the edge of 
Donald Rd, which is what the Chestnut-collared's that Jeff has had in 
Mississippi like to do. Knowing the flight note of this bird is crucial, but it 
is well-represented on Stokes Western, as well as the Cornell Birds Sounds of 
the Rocky Mountain States, these are just the ones I have and I'm sure it's on 
others. I'm also sure there will be numerous sound files available on the web. 
The call we keep hearing is the "cheedle cheedle-ip" or something similar. This 
is very different from the constant vocalizations of the multitude of Laps, and 
is distinct among Longspur calls. 

The bird Jeff got a look at yesterday was a male, with the black of the 
underparts visible, but heavily shingled in buff, very sharp cutoff with plain 
face. The white bar on black lesser coverts was seen as well. Of course, with 
all the Laps up there, many show a good bit of black below already, but not as 
far down as this bird. Hopefully we can get a shot of this bird, or at least 
get some others on it. But, it is the proverbial needle in a haystack with the 
number of Laps up there. Patience will hopefully pay off. Jeff is staying up to 
give it a shot again tomorrow, which is shaping up to be brutal, weatherwise.

Good Birding, and good luck for any that try!! With all the birds up there, it 
won't surprise me to get a Snow Bunting, or another different longspur yet.

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


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