My wife attended a bridal shower today in Savannah, so I had a couple of hours
to do some birding in the area. Along Coffee Landing Road, north of Hwy. 64, I
had three pale meadowlarks fly across the road. The flight pattern suggested
Western, as did the pale back and amount of white in the tail. I listened for a
few minutes and heard the distinct "chuck" note of a Western Meadowlark.
Flooded fields in the area had good numbers of several puddle ducks as well as
both Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs. A quick stop at Pickwick Dam yielded a
first year Lesser Black-backed Gull sitting on a mooring cell with several
Herring Gulls. Bruton Branch Recreation Area yielded great looks at two Pacific
Loons along side a Common. A flock of Red-breasted Mergansers including 22
males and only 4 females.
Damien Simbeck
Killen, Alabama
