[TN-Bird] Reelfoot Lake & surrounding areas- (Bewick's Wren ) 10/28/02 (Long)

10/28/02
Reelfoot Lake & environs (Obion & Lake Co....................)
Heloise (Dyer Co.)
Lauderdale Waterfowl Refuge (Halls in Lauderdale Co.)

Today was a great day for a leisurely day of birding, with prolonged looks at 
"good" birds whenever the chance arose.

The highlight of the day happened late in the afternoon from the rocky, 
scrubby area overlooking the southwest corner of Everett Lake at Heloise. 
This location can be seen on Topozone by clicking the following link: <A 
HREF="http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=16&n=3993378&e=259852&s=50&u=1";>Everett 
Lake</A>
This is where the Bewick's Wren was located. This is the 1st Bewick's I've 
seen in west TN in years, and was a very nice surprise. I had hoped for some 
shorebird habitat in the area, but the water was too high. After looking over 
the Egrets, Great Blue Herons, White Pelicans, and few ducks in the area, I 
began to work through the LBJ's. After fussing up a couple of Carolina and a 
Winter Wren among the sparrows, I heard a different scold note coming from 
close-by. Shortly afterwards, a very spiffy, tail-flipping Bewick's popped 
into view and let me know what it thought of the situation. The Bewick's 
stayed  in the heavy cover that had grown up around some stuff that had been 
dumped in the area, in particular around an old rusted cylinder of some sort. 
After a couple of good looks, and since I haven't replaced my camera yet, I 
gave the Wren the satisfaction of running me off and left the area. Also of 
note in the this area was a tardy Snowy Egret among the Greats.

Today was a good day for Raptors, especially since the "out-of-town" 
Red-tailed's have moved in. On the day I had 42 Red-tailed Hawks, with 3 of 
these being non-Eastern birds. The adult Krider's that wintered in the North 
Fork Obion River bottom between Martin and Union City is back again, as is a 
dark-morph Western that wintered last year just north of Halls on Highway 51, 
back in the same tree I 1st saw it in last year. A heavily streaked 
dark-morph Harlan's was also seen just south of the KY State line in Obion 
Co. on Highway 157. Other raptors on the day were 3 Red-shouldered's, 17 
Northern Harriers, 2 Cooper's Hawks, and 14 American Kestrels.

Reelfoot Lake itself yielded few surprises, being pretty much wall-to-wall 
with Ruddy Ducks and DC Cormorants. A pod of 9 Common Loons was nice, as were 
the 2 Redheads mixed in with the Scaup and Ring-necked Ducks keeping the 
little Ruddies company. Only Ring-billed and a few Bonaparte's were present, 
I couldn't locate a Herring.

The "Ibis Hole", just west of Phillipy in Lake Co. <A 
HREF="http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=16&n=4039474&e=285476";>Ibis Hole</A>, was 
very productive for shorebirds. Present were 2 unmolted juvenile Long-billed 
Dowitchers, 3 Pectoral Sandpipers, 25 Least Sandpipers, 12 Lesser Yellowlegs, 
50 Greater Yellowlegs, 78 Dunlin, and the ever-present Killdeer. 

Tiptonville Landing had only a few Ring-billed Gulls, but over 400 American 
White Pelicans loafing and resting on the bar.

I arrived at Lauderdale Waterfowl Refuge <A 
HREF="http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=16&n=3977030&e=284582";>Lauderdale</A> 
much too late in the afternoon, with only about 30 minutes of daylight left. 
I was very pleasantly surprised when I pulled up to the area. I thought I was 
probably just checking out the habitat to see how it would look, but I needed 
more time once I got there. They have it looking good for the waterfowl, and 
they have already responded. In addition to waterfowl habitat, the area is 
also a nice stopover for tardy shorebirds. Shorebirds seen in the area 
included 36 Dowitchers (too far with not enough light to be sure, some were 
definitely Long-billed, as most probably were), 5 Stilt Sandpipers, 50+ 
Dunlin, +-50 Least Sandpiper, 4 Lesser Yellowlegs, along with Killdeer and 
Snipe. Lauderdale is already hosting 14 species of waterfowl, with no geese 
present. Among these 14 were 3 tardy Blue-winged Teal, and single American 
Black, Redhead, and Canvasback. I looked long and hard among the Wigeon and 
Green-winged Teal for a "goody", with no luck. There are already several 
thousand ducks using the refuge, but nothing like what will be there shortly 
when 20+ species days will be possible.

The only warbler seen today besides Yellow-rumped were a couple of TN's. 
Nothing exciting on the sparrow front either, but flushed several Vespers 
from the roadsides.

Winter is on the way, and I can't wait!

Good birding!!!!!!!!!

Mike Todd
McKenzie, TN
Carroll Co.
mikectodd@xxxxxx


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