October 2, 2005 Mud Island-Ensley Bottoms Shelby Co. Rice Fields and Lake Sides Crittenden Co. AR I met Dick Baxter from AR, for a tour of birding places along or near the Mississippi River. The calm winds and clear skies did not promote much movement along the river. The Osprey still hangs around and two small flights of peeps sped down the river early but no gulls, terns, hawks or ducks were seen during a short vigil. The hackberry trees along the river were very active as it seems there has been a very good crop produced. We had quite a few Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, tanagers and orioles feeding overhead. A first of season Yellow-rumped fed on the ground and in low shrubs right in front of us. Chimney Swifts and swallows again covered the river high and low. The swallows were mainly Tree and Rough-winged with a few Barn in the mix. Still looking for another Cave;o) At the pits we were treated to great looks at an adult, tundrius Peregrine, this one was a normal colored bird and not light like the one seen earlier in the week. We witnessed something neither of us had seen before as the bird dropped from its perch and swooped over a field, a hundred Horned Larks took up pursuit and danced around the bird till all were out of sight. I've never seen a flock of Horn Larks chase a raptor. Needless to say the raptor pass had a sweeping effect on the Wind Bird population leaving us with 5 Western Sandpipers, 1 Baird's, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs and a few hundred Least Sandpipers. The ducks consisted of 60 Mallards including the 2 pale birds that have been around a couple of years, 61 Shoveler, a couple of Pintails and Blue-winged Teal. Just across the bridge in AR we had a plegadis species drop into a brush covered tree line but it could not be located for an ID, my second for the area along the river this week. We scratched out a few goodies with lots of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 1 Winter Wren, 1 Philadelphia Vireo, Magnolia, Bay-breasted, Black-throated Green and a cast of the other expected migrants, but over all pretty slow. We ran a few roads looking for some rice harvesting but found mostly harvested fields and only soybeans being harvested. Good Birding !!! Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA 6298 Memphis-Arlington Road Bartlett, TN 38135