[TN-Bird] Reelfoot Lake CBC highlights

The 2004 Reelfoot Lake CBC was held on Saturday, December 18.  The weather was 
cooperative and the high temperature reached the 50 degree mark.  It was a bit 
breezy but overall a good day to be out.
Thirteen observers in five parties totaled 114 species which is about average 
for the last few years.
Highlights included:

Greater White-fronted Goose - 2,159 were tallied slightly above last year's 
previous high count of 2,109.

Snow Goose - we had flocks coming over us all morning long and all parties had 
them.  We totaled 9,944 which shattered the old previous high of 947 set last 
year!

Ross's Goose - As to be expected most of the flocks of Snows that we had 
contained a few Ross's.  By the end of the day we ended up with an incredible 
number of 67 which shattered last years previous high of 3!!!  50+ were visible 
at one time at Long Point late in the afternoon as the birds came in to roost.

Blue-winged Teal - a male and female were present in the hordes of ducks and 
geese at Long Point late Saturday evening.  The male was photographed by Jeff 
Wilson.  

American White Pelican - a single bird flew over us just north of the Phillipy 
Pits.

GOLDEN EAGLE - this was the show off bird of the day.  this birds was first 
seen by the party of Jerry Drewry, Sabin Thompson, and Joe Stone at about 10 am 
on Walnut Log Road.  It was seen shortly afterwards near the Reelfoot Airpark 
by Chris Sloan and Bob Foehring and it was eventually seen by every party doing 
the count!  It was a beautiful juvenile bird with a nice golden sheen to the 
back of the head and a stunning white tail.  We found it on the ground with an 
adult Bald Eagle on Stateline Road and Jeff was able to photograph the bird as 
it took flight.

Merlin - one was found by Nancy Moore and Ken Leggett at Long Point.

Greater Yellowlegs - found on Friday north of Walnut Log in the sloughs on Hwy. 
157 this bird thankfully stuck around for the count the next day and was 
tallied by Jerry Drewry, Sabin Thompson, and Joe Stone.

Least Sandpiper - ditto as for the yellowlegs.  3 were seen on Friday in the 
same spot as the yellowlegs and seen again on count day.

Eurasian Collared-Dove - 3 were seen in Wynnburg and 2 were seen in Tiptonville.

Short-eared Owl - 3 were seen along Tiptonville Ferry Road in the same area 
where we had quite a few a couple of years ago.

Marsh Wren - one was seen by Jerry, Sabin, and Joe on the east side of the lake.

Orange-crowned Warbler - one was found by Chris Sloan and Bob Foehring near the 
Airpark.  This spot has been pretty reliable for this species the last few 
years.

Vesper Sparrow - 3 were found by Mike Todd and Don Manning in an old cemetary 
south of the lake.  Mike got some nice photographs.

LeConte's Sparrow - 3 were seen by Chris Sloan and Bob Foehring at Black Bayou 
Refuge.

Lapland Longspur - Jeff Wilson, Nathan Warden, and I had small groups all over 
the place in the fields west of the lake and southwest of Tiptonville.  No big 
flocks anywhere but we had them at several different locations.

Western Meadowlark - Jeff spotted one beside the road just north of Tiptonville 
along Hwy. 78 and Jeff, Nathan, and I were able to get some good looks at it.  
There was another nearby which was probably a Western as well but we wear never 
able to get a good look at it before it disappeared.

Other notable species included: Greater Scaup, Northern Bobwhite, Sharp-shinned 
Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Red-breasted Nuthatch, American Pipit, Cedar Waxwing, 
American Tree Sparrow, Rusty Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird, and Purple Finch.

Participants were: Jerry Drewry, Bob Foehring, Mark Greene, Joe Guinn, Ken 
Leggett, Don Manning, Nancy Moore, Chris Sloan, Joe Stone, Sabin Thompson, Mike 
Todd, Nathan Warden, and Jeff Wilson.

Thanks to all who participated.  I'll post and send out a full report later 
once I get everything totaled up.

Happy Holidays and Good Birding!

Mark Greene
Trenton, TN

I'll post a full report once I get everything totaled up.  




=================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: