[TN-Bird] Jaeger & etc. on KY Lake; 11/4/06 (long)
- From: "Todd, Michael C." <michael.c.todd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2006 11:49:54 -0600
11/4/06 =
KY Lake areas of Henry & Benton Co. (all records in Henry unless otherwise
noted)
=
I spent the day birding KY Lake with Jon Mann, Daniel Moss, and Nita
Heilman, and a very nice day it was! The highlight was definitely the
distant Jaeger we watched near dusk from Rocky Point. But other notables
were both Surf and White-winged Scoter, a calling Veery which is definitely=
late for them, teasing looks at LeConte's Sparrows, easily 400 + loons in
the area, and 78 Dunlin on the day.
=
We started at the Paris Landing area and worked our way over to Pace Point.=
Practically the 1st bird I saw from Gray's Landing (north side of Paris
Landing Bridge) was a flying Surf Scoter. This young bird sat down for a fe=
w
minutes, but flew north again just after the rest of the group had arrived,=
before Nita even got a look at it. The island at Paris Landing was pretty
quiet, with nothing unusual at all on it, the 1st time in several trips tha=
t
there hasn't at least been a Franklin's or Laughing on it. Coots have taken=
the area over, with a lot of ducks mixed-in, though surprisingly few Scaup
so far (especially when I found out how many Jeff had in Memphis).
=
We then went to the mouth of Eagle Creek, which was teeming with ducks,
including all of TN's regular dabbling ducks (except Black and Blue-winged
Teal, we would see many Black Ducks later). Among the birds here were
several Redheads, which we would also encounter a couple of other times on
the day. No good gulls, and for the 1st time I can remember, no Forster's
Terns in the area (they were at Britton Ford instead). Only shorebirds othe=
r
than Killdeer were Snipe and a dozen Dunlin.
=
A quick stop at Big Eagle Campground quickly put us right in the middle of
about 50 loons, all Common. Port Rd was pretty quiet; there were many more
loons lined up, though they were almost just mirages in the heat shimmer. A=
Sharp-shinned Hawk put on a good show for us overhead here, along with a
couple of Bald Eagles and Red-tailed Hawks. We didn't take the time to go t=
o
Trailer Rd, as time was already slipping away from us.
Britton Ford was productive, with highlights being a Veery that we heard
call clearly 3 times, the classic 'vyeer' call note, although we never coul=
d
get a look at it. Pretty late for Veery, which usually gets out of here a
little ahead of the other (non-Hermit) thrushes. We had 56 Dunlin on the
flats here, which in addition to those seen elsewhere,came up to 78 on the
day. This is my largest day count of this species in TN. We also had a few
Least Sandpipers here. Duck numbers are still pretty low here, but Black
Duck numbers have jumped since my last visit.
=
After a quick stop in Big Sandy, we were off to Pace Point, with a brief
stop at Lick Creek on the way. The Lick Creek flats (Benton Co.) didn't hav=
e
much other than a few Dunlin to add to the list for the day. We were pushed=
for time after we got to the refuge at Big Sandy, so our 1st real stop was
at the old maintenance area. Not sure what is going on with the planned
observation platform here; the structure has been up for a while, but the
weeds around it about have it hidden. The willows around the excellent bay
here are getting tall enough that they are starting to really block your
looks into much of the bay. A Vesper Sparrow here was the only one on the
day. This is a good spot for Golden Eagles to be up soaring, though we were=
a little later in the day than is ideal and we didn't have anything up.
=
The field just below the maintenance area has been good for LeConte's
Sparrows in the past, but a lot or work has been done in this area. We did
find a nice strip of panicum grass on the back side of what's left of the
vegetation, and had quick looks at a couple of LeConte's, unfortunately the=
only bird that sat up was in a spot that the rest of the group couldn't see=
it. They are here though. From here we directly to Pace Point, where the
hoped-for White-winged Scoter popped-up out of nowhere just off the east
side of Pace Point. This was a lifer or state bird I think for all the othe=
r
members of the group. This immature bird slowly worked its way away from us=
before flying around to the back side of the point, and out of sight from
us. Lucky timing once again. I've had 2 of the 3 Scoter species in a day in=
TN a couple of times now, but never the 3rd. I know Jeff has had all 3
before at Pickwick, maybe elsewhere? Loons were scattered around both sides=
of Pace Point, but nothing that looked suspicious. The only other bird of
much note here was a 1st-winter Laughing Gull, our only one of the day. I
think this was also a state bird for most of the group. Also in this area
was a Red-breasted Merganser, my First of Season. The Ruddy Duck raft was
directly looking into the Sun, so no telling what was in there. Scaup
numbers were few, as many Ring-necks around as Scaup; no Greaters anywhere
today.
On the way out of Pace Point, we stopped for a minute at 'Coot Bay' before
heading over to Rocky Point. The mass of coots that are normally here were
absent for some reason (several dense rafts of coots were out in the river
in this area). Lots of ducks and loons around, highlights being a couple of=
more Red-breasted Mergansers and another nice group of Redheads.
=
Now, for the good stuff! It was around 4:15 when we got to Rocky Point,
which left very time to try and sort through stuff. Loons were literally
lined-up everywhere, there are easily 400 loons in the area already. Shortl=
y
after starting to scan, I had a dark bird literally bust low through my
scope field, scattering birds in front of it. I caught the big white
underwing flash and said something that won't be repeated here to let
everyone know we had a Jaeger working the area. Finally everyone was able t=
o
get on the bird, either with scope or binocs. The bird was very distant the=
whole time, probably not less than 1/2 mile, so not much detail would be
picked up with binocs, or a scope for that matter. We watched the bird for
probably close to 5 minutes, before finally losing it against the tree line=
and not being able to pick it back up. =
I've had several encounters with jaegers over the years in TN, most very
quick and a couple of better studies. (Though on one of the 'better studies=
'
in this same area years ago, a bird was seen and photographed well, and
misidentified as a Parastic when the photos much-later showed it to be a
Long-tailed) This was one of the more enjoyable encounters, even if I never=
could safely call the bird. We watched it harass Ring-billed Gulls, make
several low sorties checking out the loons and gulls on the water, and a
couple of times it climbed very fast and hard, practically vertically.
Finally we saw a small group of Bonaparte's Gulls soaring very, very high.
That bird worked hard to get up to those Bony's, and when it did the chase
was on.
=
When I 1st saw the Jaeger, Pomarine was the 1st thing I though of. The bird=
really looked bulky, with very powerful wingbeats. After seeing the bird in=
direct comparison to Ring-bills and Bonaparte's though, it's hard for me to=
believe the bird was a Pomarine. In the distant profile looks the wings
didn't look wide enough at the base, or in relation to the tail to be a
Pomarine. It also held its on turning with the little Bony's for a while,
which it would seem that a Pom would have trouble with. It's amazing how
fast the impressions on a Jaeger can change though. It was too distant to
get any details on plumage, just a dark bird with those big white primary
flashes on the underwing. It did look to an intermediate morph, very likely=
a juvenile.
=
Jeff Wilson had a good point when I was talking to him later about the bird=
,
that it's easy when you 1st see any eager, especially in circumstances like=
ours, to be so impressed with the bird that even a normally-dainty
Long-tailed can make you think Pomarine initially. I have very limited
experience with Long-tailed Jaeger (total of 3), Parasitic Jaeger (total of=
1), and before my pelagic off California this past winter, only a couple of=
Pomarines. I spent a lot of time watching numerous Poms off southern Cal,
and after watching the Rocky Point bird, it didn't strike me as having the
same look I remembered from the Pomarines there. To make a long-story short=
,
I'm not sure which one it was, but it was a blast being able to watch it do=
what a Jaeger does best, raise all manner of hell! After losing the eager, =
I
scanned back through the loons and growing number of roosting gulls on the
water a couple of times in the fading light, but added nothing to our list.=
No doubt though, there are some 'good' loons in the mix up there right now.=
On the way our we stopped briefly at the Eagle roost area, and had about 8
Bald Eagles come over in a matter of a few minutes. Great way to end a grea=
t
day.
I hope to be able to get back up to Big Sandy for at least a few hours
tomorrow, to see if I might luck back into the Jaeger, or a good loon. I
have posted some distant shots of the Surf and White-winged Scoters. The
link is http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/image/69721771 , this is the Surf
Scoter, clicking 'next' will be the White-winged, which was a little closer=
.
Good Birding!!
Mike Todd
McKenzie, TN
birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (home)
Michael.c.todd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (work)
www.bpase.com/mctodd
=
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