[TN-Bird] MS Rails
- From: OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, missbird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 9 Oct 2005 08:21:20 EDT
Oct. 8, 2005
Tunica Co. MS
I spent the afternoon searching for rice harvesting and watching combines in
Tunica Co. I found 6 fields being cut but 3 were way to dry, 2 had small wet
areas in them and the last field had a huge area where smart weed had grown
up in profusion. I spent 2 hours at the last field waiting for them to scare
up the rails that I figured were bunched up in the tangle. A few Sora ran and
flew across the road when they cut the ditch line on the road so I knew more
would be in the polygonum.
This field paid off with 75 Sora (only 13 were immature birds), 1 Virginia
and 1 Yellow. The totals for the afternoon were, 91 Sora, 2 Virginia and 2
Yellow. I find the Yellow Rails are just about as likely in the dry fields but
I
prefer to see wet tires if I'm going to spent a lot of time watching. No
Black Rails but the turn arounds were dry and you could not line up on the
convoluted tracks to watch the wheel runts.
The fields were full of small birds and I got permission to walk out in two
cut areas, where I found a ton of Common Yellowthroats, Sedge and Marsh Wrens
plus Red-winged Blackbirds, 4 Bobolinks, about a half dozen Dickcissel,
Savannah and Swamp Sparrows and close up looks at 2, bright as a new penny,
Nelson's Sharpe-tailed Sparrows.
Good Birding !!!
Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA
6298 Memphis-Arlington Road
Bartlett, TN 38135
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