[TN-Bird] Red-necked Grebe on a rainy day

11/18/03
Britton Ford
Henry Co.

I finally had a day off and couldn't wait to get to Britton Ford after
the amazing run of birds Jeff had Sunday. Of course, today was pretty
notable for the weather. I tried to wait the weather out, but finally
left the house around noon to make the 30-minute run to Britton Ford. I
arrived 1st at the observation platform, donned my rainjacket, and
preceded to get wet. Conditions were far from ideal, but there wasn't
much happening here when I arrived. I was unable to locate any of the
target birds, but they may have just been out of my reach for the
conditions. I next headed north to the next vantage point overlooking
the next bay. From here I finally found the main bird I was after, the
rosy-necked adult RED-NECKED GREBE. The bird was in the company of
Horned Grebes again, and gave me great looks considering the conditions.
I tried to get some photos, but they weren't worth the trouble.

I never did the locate the Western Grebes, sleeping or otherwise. At
this location though, birds can quickly swim out of site in either
direction. The only Scoters I had were 2 distant sleeping birds, among
Ring-necked and a few Canvasbacks. The impression I got of the Scoters
was Surf, but couldn't be certain. Another interesting observation, was
2 different hybrid Mallard X American Black Ducks. One of these had an
almost entirely dark green (darker than a drake Mallard) head, with a
pale area on the cheek, while the other had a green cap sharply set off
from a pale face. Britton Ford has had at least one of these birds the
last 3 winters. This is probably accountable to the fact that Britton
Ford has a large number of American Black Ducks every winter, the
largest congregation that I know of locally. I was able to get poor
photos of both of these hybrids.

The flat at the north entrance (where the Phalarope graced us with its
presence), was covered in dabblers, and a nice smattering of Wilson's
Snipe and Dunlin along with the Killdeer. A surprise was one of the
Dunlins still sporting significant juvenile plumage. The belly was still
heavily marked with black, and the wing coverts and tertials still had
nice bright edges on them. This is my 1st experience with this plumage,
which is said to be rarely seen on migration. My looks were much more
brief than I would have liked, as the flock flew shortly after I got on
the bird. After hearing Snow Geese the past couple of nights, and seeing
them posted everywhere, I was surprised not to see or hear a goose the
short time I was out today.

 I'm glad the Lee's were able to verify the Western's were still around,
and had more luck with the Scoters than I did. The Red-necked was a
lifer for me, and makes 5 state birds now in little over the last 2
months (and what  a couple of months it's been). After you get much over
300 in the State, often 5 birds in a year is a nice addition, I thought
the days of picking up that many in short order were long gone! I had
hoped to hit 330 in the state by the end of the year (but hadn't really
expected to), and Red-necked Grebe was one of the prime candidates, as
is often the case, I can thank Jeff for pointing me in the right
direction! All in all, a very wet but worthwhile couple of hours at
Britton Ford! Now, what's next?

Good birding!!

Mike Todd
McKenzie, TN
Carroll Co.
birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=16&groupid=116215&ck


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