[TN-Bird] Pickwick to Britton Ford area 1/16/05

From: <birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2005 20:24:17 -0600
1/16/05
Pickwick & Savannah area
Hardin Co.

Britton Ford area
Henry Co.

The 1st bird I heard this morning were two Purple Finches calling from the 
top of a tree in my yard, had to be a good omen! I decided to try a roll of 
the dice, and go to Pickwick and vicinity. There are a lot of good gulls to 
our immediate north and south, and since Pickwick can be great, I tried. 
Unfortunately, waterbirding was very slow around Pickwick. There were less 
than 50 gulls working the area below the Dam, of just the 3 expected 
species, although they are spilling a tremendous amount of water. Only a few 
Scaup and 2 Common Loons were seen above the Dam. I didn't go to Bruton 
Branch, that's probably where everything was.

The campground area below the Dam was marked off with Police crime scene 
tape, and closed. Anyone know what the deal is? I was able to get my target 
bird from the road though, as 4 Brown-headed Nuthatches were working up a 
storm and having a big old time. In my one trip here last year, I missed 
this bird (for the year).

The TN River bottoms were interesting. The spot that was so good last winter 
for gulls, with Thayer's and California last year, once again had the 
biggest number of gulls, 200 to 300. Several interesting Herring's present, 
but none that could be made into anything else ;') This is off of Old Ferry 
Rd, just before you cross the Hwy 64 bridge into Savannah. There was a PALM 
WARBLER working the edge of the road here as well, neat little winter bird. 
Also in the Bottoms (all in Hardin Co.) I had a MERLIN and 3 GREATER 
WHITE-FRONTED GEESE. I've had a Merlin now for 4 years in this same general 
area (Pittsburgh Landing Rd, north of Couch Rd, DeLorme pg. 17, across from 
Shiloh Landing). Geese are pretty scarce in this area, and I think these 
were my 1st White-fronts for the area. A couple of Vesper Sparrows were in 
the bottoms as well, my only regular spot for them in TN in the winter.

After a return trip to the Dam, with the same results, I decided to head 
back north and try Britton Ford again. I had hoped the Cackling Goose was 
still around, and I could try for better shots. The geese were once again 
feeding in the area around the observation platform. But, I couldn't locate 
either the Cackling Goose or the other smaller goose. Yesterday, there were 
no White-fronts in this area, today there were at least 28. I haven't seen 
the Ross's that were here last weekend either. The geese seem to trade 
around a lot, often staying on the backside of a hill on the other end of 
the refuge, where they are tough to get a decent look at. The ducks are 
staying WAY out in open water, only a few dabblers and Ruddies are in the 
close bay. A quick run down to where the Tree Sparrows were yesterday didn't 
produce any sparrows, but with the wind howling like it was, I wasn't 
surprised.

Good birding!!

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




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[TN-Bird] Pickwick to Britton Ford area 1/16/05

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