[TN-Bird] Marvelous Migration

Oct. 30, 2004
Mud Island, Ensley Bottoms
Eagle Lake, Shelby Co. TN


Yesterday, a swift moving storm front passed just before dawn with a clearing 
of the skies shortly thereafter. It was perfect for dragging a bunch of birds 
along behind and I knew Harrier Hawks would certainly be in the mix. The 
Mississippi River would be the place to watch and I spent the day scanning from 
the above three locations. I was not disappointed.

The bright blue skies made it hard to see birds directly over head but you 
could pick up strings and singles at a distance and follow then until you could 
count and ID the species. White Pelicans would flash you from afar and then 
slowly work their way past. A big push of ducks was not evident as you can see 
from the numbers but the geese were certainly headed south, although nothing 
like we will see with a hard freeze front moving through.

I counted 1425 White Pelicans in 11 groups, 414 Greater White-fronted Geese 
in 5, and 1079 Snow and Blues in 9 flights. Ducks migrating were scarce and 
those already present were dominated by Gadwall and Shovelers. In the air, I 
had 
only 127 Scaup and 95 Pintail. Double-crested Cormorants were streaming past 
in high numbers but I decided to let them slide and just try to keep up with 
the other stuff.

Raptors were continually in sight with 37 Red-tailed Hawks, 12 Harriers, an 
immature and an adult Bald Eagle, 7 Kestrels, 3 Cooper's and a single 
Sharp-shinned counted heading south. Vultures were also migrating with these 
high 
fliers and I tallied 45 Turkey and 17 Blacks. An adult and an immature 
Peregrine 
were raking over the wind birds at the pits, and I added Pectoral, Baird's and 
Greater Yellowlegs to Friday's species list.

The Mississippi has again jumped up 17 feet but has started to fall and gulls 
are hard to find but on McKellar and at TVA Lake 98 Ring-billed and 3 Herring 
were seen with a single Franklin's on McKellar and 7 of these half hooded 
birds were seen on a small piece of exposed sand on the Mississippi along with 
a 
Forster's Tern.

Certainly not one of those knock out super-super days but it kept this 
Ol'Coot out of trouble so near to Halloween. Another larger, stormy area is 
moving 
through right now and I bet it has dropped in a few more goodies which I'll get 
out and glean through today.


Good Birding!!!

Jeff R. Wilson
OL'COOT / TLBA
Bartlett, TN


=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
-----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
----------------------------------------------------- 
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society 
       Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
        endorse the views or opinions expressed
        by the members of this discussion group.
 
         Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
                 wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
          web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    ========================================================

Other related posts: