[TN-Bird] Ruff Day at Reelfoot! 4/27/07

4/27/07
Reelfoot Lake areas (Obion & Lake Co.)

I had to go Martin anyway this morning, and since I was half-way to Reelfoot 
anyway, that's where I wound-up. I got off to a late start, not getting to 
Walnut Log until about 10:30. Walnut Log produced several FOS birds for me, 
including one that I was really hoping for; a pair of Cerulean Warblers is 
back to the same spot on the Log that they've held the past couple of years. 
Other new birds included:

Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Tennessee Warbler (10+ on the day)
Cape May Warbler

As I neared the end of Walnut Log I happened across Bud & Alice Johnson from 
Dresden. We spent the rest of the day birding together. After leaving Walnut 
Log, we made our way towards Long Point across the top end of the Lake. A 
flooded field in KY, near the Long Point Unit NWR, had a nice collection of 
shorebirds. Among the numerous Yellowlegs, Pectorals, and Least Sandpipers, 
were about 35 Semipalmated Sandpipers and a nice Short-billed Dowitcher. I 
came back through this area on the way home, and counted 58 Semipalmated 
Plovers. Long Point was a bust, as there is no decent shorebird habitat. 
That is really a shame, as it has great potential, but the areas that have 
been productive in the past are either bone dry, or totally grown-up. I'm 
sure it will be looking good by waterfowl season though.

After leaving KY, we cruised through the Phillipy Unit where Mark Greene had 
a Willet only a day or two ago. There were a pair of Bald Eagles sitting on 
the levee here, and not a shorebird or duck in sight. We made a quick trip 
to the Air Park Inn, and had three male Bobolinks feeding on the lawn there. 
Nothing much happening in Black Bayou, though we didn't walk back to the 
area that is sometimes good for shorebirds, and where the Bell's Vireos will 
hopefully come back for the 5th year in a row. A few Dickcissels are in 
though.

After leaving Black Bayou, we went to Phillipy; this is where the day got 
Ruff! There is still a lot of water on both sides of the road at Phillipy, 
but obviously not as many birds as the last time I was there. I pulled up 
and scanned the field to the south of the road, and literally the 1st birds 
I saw were a Lesser Yellowlegs, and a Ruff. I jumped out to let Bud and 
Alice know what we had, and we spent the next couple of hours enjoying this 
bird. I was able to get ahold of Nancy Moore, who also got to get the bird 
for a lifer.

I need to correct a mistake I made in the field, the bird is a Ruff and not 
a Reeve. I have very limited experience with these birds, this being my 3rd 
in TN (and 1st in about 5 years) plus a couple of fine breeding plumage 
birds in Korea. I didn't have any of my shorebird references with me, and 
even though I thought it looked pretty big compared to Lesser Yellowlegs, I 
didn't realize it was WAY too big to be a female. The bill also had a lot of 
orange at the base, which a female should lack. The other funny thing, that 
we (or I anyway) didn't notice while we were looking at the bird was that 
the neck is really ratty looking. As usual with a good bird, I spent too 
much time looking through a camera! But, after getting home and looking at a 
few of my photos, it dawned on me that this had to be a male bird. I shot 
Jeff some photos, and he agreed that it had to be a male bird, which in 
itself is unusual for this time of year, most spring records are of female 
birds (except early spring when a few males have shown up). The funny thing 
is, that it looks like this bird is molting OUT of breeding plumage, and has 
dropped the ruff, which would account for the unusual look of the neck. I 
hadn't thought about that, but it would be very interesting to know where 
this bird is heading, as it may be heading south already.

This bird was quite close at times, probably within 75 yards. It stayed 
among the grassy areas most of the time, making a clean shot hard to get. 
There were a couple of Lesser Yellowlegs that it tended to somewhat hang out 
with, as well as several Pectoral Sandpipers in the area. The bird fed most 
of the time, but did go through a couple of bouts of pretty thorough 
preening. Maybe this bird will stay in this area for a little while for 
others to enjoy.

After Nancy arrived and spent some time with the bird, we decided to drive 
around and check the Ibis hole. Not much here, though a nice 
alternate-plumage Long-billed Dowitcher made for a Dowitcher sweep for the 
day (too bad the Ruff didn't bring an Asian Dowitcher with it, I really 
wanted to see that bird in Korea!). So for the day, only 11 species of 
shorebirds, but with one big bonus bird in the mix. We missed several 
species I had expected, like Black-necked Stilt. From the Ibis Hole everyone 
went there separate ways, and I made a swing back by to check on the Ruff. 
It was still in the same area, though it did fly once to some deeper water 
to bathe. After a few minutes it came over to the east side of the field 
where it had been staying. I left at about 18:30, with it still there. There 
was a bit of a movement this afternoon, with Pectorals and Semipalmated 
Plovers calling overhead frequently at Phillipy, and when I got back to the 
field in KY, Semi Plover numbers had about doubled.

I will post some photos of the Ruff shortly.

Good Birding!!

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



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