[TN-Bird] KY Lake area (Franklin's Gulls) 10/31/04 (long)

10/31/04
KY Lake area
Henry & Benton Co.

I began the day at Paris Landing, hoping that the fowl weather would put 
down something of interest. Nothing at all of note in the Paris Landing 
area, and once again, no Lesser Black-backs. Although, there were a few 
Herring's and Ringers on the island south of the bridge. I only saw one 
Common Loon, but a dozen or so Horned Grebe's are now in, my 1st of the 
season (FOTS).

My next stop in an ever-increasing downpour, was the flats at Eagle Creek, 
off of Bull Durham Rd. This has been my best place for shorebirds, and 
usually several gulls and Forster's Terns as well. Shorebirds were pretty 
slim, only a single Pectoral and Snipe among the horde of Killdeer running 
around. Unusually for here, no ducks or egrets.

Gulls were a different story though. There was a blanket of white covering a 
couple of sections of the flats. A quick glance through the pouring rain 
with binoculars revealed a lot of dark backs and black hoods. The weather 
had just introduced me to by far more Franklin's than I have ever seen (up 
to this point of the day anyway). I tried to count the birds, but in places 
the birds were packed so tight that I knew I was missing some. With a nice 
group that settled in as I watched, my final count here on Franklin's was 
518. The birds were fairly evenly split between 1st-years and adult-types, 
with seemingly a little heavier with adults. A couple of birds still sported 
the extensive brown hind-necks from juvenile plumage. Also, several of the 
adults had the nice rosy flush that they are known for. I sat here for over 
an hour, enjoying the birds with a window-mount so as to only get about 
half-soaked. A few Bonaparte's were in, as well as the ever-present 
Forster's Terns. Farther up Eagle Creek, I found another 75+ Franklin's 
riding the weather out on the water.

A quick trip to Port Rd didn't produce a single loon, but did get my 1st of 
3 nice flocks of Snow Geese (FOTS) overhead. This flock of Snows/Blues was 
110 strong, and had a couple of half-pint Ross's in the mix, my 1st and only 
ones of the day. Later in the day I had flocks of 150 and 75 Snow/Blue 
Geese.

Britton Ford produced the biggest surprise. Very few ducks around yet, but 
the bay hasn't been closed to boat traffic yet. The number of Canada Geese 
is growing, still no Cackling Geese-types yet though. I did have 4 Greater 
White-fronted Geese come into the fields here though, also my FOTS. The 
surprise came when I saw a dense flock of dark birds a long way out in the 
water. While trying to figure them out, a few of them got up and flew a 
short distance, revealing themselves to be more Franklin's. This huge flock 
eventually got up en masse and moved around a couple of times, truly a 
memorable sight. I was finally able to get a conservative count on these 
birds, and came up to 1000+, counting by 50's. The birds were packed so 
tight on the water that it was a real challenge trying to get a number.

This made at least 1600 Franklin's in this area. I had talked to Jeff 
earlier from Eagle Creek to see if he had Franklin's piled-up on the 
Mississippi as well, and he did. No telling how many birds came through 
today. While this is nowhere near the 3000+ Jeff had on the Mississippi last 
November, it is amazing considering that until last year, the high count was 
considerably less than 100.

The other areas I visited weren't too productive, as there was little in the 
way of flats on the Big Sandy or Lick Creek either. I had a few Dunlin at 
both locations. Pace Point was good for a juvenile Lesser Black-back, along 
with a Dunlin, Western Sandpiper, and Greater Yellowlegs.

Very few transient-type passerines were seen, although Tree Swallows are 
still around in numbers. The only warbler other than Yellow-rumped was 
Common Yellowthroat. Otherwise just winter birds, but did pish up one more 
Lincoln's Sparrow. I didn't spend any time working sparrows because it was 
so wet.

I have added a few shots of the Franklin's, and some much better images of 
the juvenile Lesser Black-back to my website at:

http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/ky_lake_103104

Good birding!!

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



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