[TN-Bird] Recent highlights

12/14/07 Lauderdale Waterfowl Refuge to Reelfoot Lake area (Lauderdale to Lake 
Co)
12/15/07 Reelfoot CBC (Lake & Obion Co)
12/17/07 KY Lake areas of  Henry Co
12/14/07
Scouted my way up to Reelfoot for the CBC on Saturday. Started at Lauderdale 
Waterfowl Refuge in Lauderdale Co where I ran into Bob Foehring who was also on 
his way for the CBC. Highlights here were the geese numbers, though we couldn't 
find a Cackling Goose. A nice flock of 3000+ Snow Geese was about 50/50 Snow to 
Blue, with a good number of Ross's mixed in. There were at least 1000 Greater 
White-fronts in the area, and a sprinkling of Canada Geese.

Definite highlight here was a bird that sure looks good for a dark-morph Ross's 
Goose. This bird is controversial, with most resembling them thought to be 
hybrids with Snow; California gets most of the sightings, but there are some 
photos on the web of birds from TX.  This bird 1st caught my attention by how 
black it was, with the very neat little white face enclosed in black. It was 
the same size as nearby Ross's, and the bill had the straight border and bluish 
base of Ross's, and lacked a grin line. The white tertials and coverts 
contrasted much more with the black plumage than the multitude of nearby 'Blue' 
Snow Geese. The head was the classic rounded shape of Ross's as well. I was 
able to pick this bird up repeatedly by the black plumage, as the geese moved 
around in response to several Bald Eagles in the area. I did get several fair 
shots of this bird which I have posted. All of the comments I've gotten back so 
far have been good for Ross's. It seems that the dark hybrids are usually 
separated by intermediate size and bill characters, and less black on the neck 
and crown. None of these work for this bird, as they are all good Ross's 
features. To my knowledge, this would be the 1st record of this morph for TN. 
Jeff has had one in the mid-south, I believe in KY. Records from other states 
in the mid-south seem to be extremely scarce as well.

Otherwise we had a slow day, with a couple of nice Krider's Red-tails on the 
way north. Around Reelfoot we had a late Barn Swallow (Lake Co), which couldn't 
be refound again on the day of the count. Lapland Longspurs were everywhere. We 
closed the day out with a Short-eared Owl, which barked at us just to let us 
know there was one around.

12/15/07 
Rain from start to finish was the theme of the day as Bob Foehring, Joe Guinn 
and I struggled along during the CBC. Our best bird of the day was a single 
Red-necked Grebe in Obion Co, at practically the same location as the two we 
found last year on the CBC. This bird just cruised right by us in the pouring 
rain, at times not 100 feet offshore. We also had a Lincoln's Sparrow in Lake 
Co, a scarce winter bird. Lapland Longspurs were again plentiful in our limited 
time spent in open country. A group of Rusty Blackbirds also was a treat, 
feeding in a wet spot in the woods at Keystone. 

12/17/07
I spent the morning in the Pace Point area. I had hoped for the Red-necked 
Grebe again from my last trip up here, but no luck. An immature Red-throated 
Loon off Rocky Point was my best look of the season so far at one of these 
ghosts. It was a little far out for any kind of a shot, but it gave nice views 
in fairly calm water in-between long dives. There were about 100 Common Loons 
in the area that I saw, but no Pacific. Common Goldeneye numbers are definitely 
up from my last trip, but no Common Mergansers yet as I had hoped. Guess we 
need just a little more cold weather up north to get these hardy guys down. 
Four Ross's Geese feeding in a corn stubble field were the only geese on the 
day other than Canada.

Only other bird of note was a 1st-cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull which came in 
and splashed around at Pace Point while I was there. The lake is way up again, 
with the water at Pace Point back up in the bushes again. A group of Purple 
Finches overhead was the passerine highlight of the day.

I have placed a few shots of the dark-morph Ross's, Red-necked Grebe swimming 
by in the rain, and a couple of shots of the Lesser Black-backed from Pace 
Point in my winter 2007 gallery. The gallery can be accessed here: 
http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/winter_20072008&page=3 ,or the 1st of the new shots 
starts here: http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/image/90426578

Be glad to hear any comments anyone might have on the Goose. My only experience 
with dark-morph Ross's is one bird from the Salton Sea a couple of years ago.

Good Birding!!

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




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