[TN-Bird] Shorebird Weekend
- From: OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 18:24:56 EDT
Oct.2-3, 2004
Ensley Bottoms
Shelby Co. TN
The winds shifted from south to north and changes expectantly came through
out the weekend. No Peregrines were seen on Friday or Saturday but two were
present on Sunday. Sunday morning there was another small male tundrius, a
different bird from last weekend's marauder that allowed close looks as it
perched
nearby while the second bird that showed up in the afternoon was an adult
female
of the mixed race anatum type. These two took turns sweeping the flats clean
and finally late in the day the population was down to less than a third of
the birds enjoyed in the morning.
The Black-bellied Plover, that showed up late Saturday, stayed through Sunday
and sat for photos. The three Semipalmated Plovers present all weekend were
delightful immature birds. Killdeer numbers are still fairly high but the birds
are found in pockets, especially out in the spread fields. The single
immature Black-necked Stilt still hangs out at TVA Lake. I keep thinking it
will
leave with one of the family groups that occasionally arrive and depart.
Two Greater Yellowlegs were very vociferous on Friday and were gone on
Saturday morning but the winds dropped in 9 late that afternoon but they too
left by
Sunday Morning. Lesser Yellowlegs were in slightly lesser numbers than last
week as were the Stilt Sandpipers and all but one of those present were
immatures. No Solitary or Spotted Sandpipers were seen
over the weekend. Semipalmated Sandpiper numbers were ahead of Western
Sandpipers all weekend but their numbers shrink daily.
Most of Sunday morning was spent trying to get good photos of a peculiar,
small sandpiper with little luck on good detail shots but you win some and you
lose some. These little birds sure test you and teach you about the variables
in
small peeps.
Least Sandpipers rule the roost with huge flocks scampering everywhere when
they were not up in the air trying to distance themselves from the Peregrines.
A single Baird's Sandpiper made a showing on Sunday morning. The Pectoral
numbers are a little low for this time of the year but all but two birds are
immatures at this time. Pectorals by far showed the least success in breeding
out
put this year. A single molting immature Dunlin was present Sunday morning but
missing in action Sunday afternoon. No Buff-breasted were seen this weekend
and I fear this too is a result of the adults streaming though early after
nesting failure and only a few immatures making the trip south.
The high winds and threat of bad weather put down 13 Long-billed Dowitchers
on Saturday afternoon. Most of them slept and therefore were all were gone by
Sunday Morning, except for one weary bird that posed for photos all morning.
These are up close and personal shots and I'll post them soon on a web page of
portraits I'm working on.
The two Wilson's Snipe that were found on Saturday worked the same grassy
patch on Sunday. Last but not least the immature, female Wilson's Phalarope
that
was studied on Saturday was still present Sunday and an another small male was
also present but I never saw the two together. Both let me get some shots
comparing their differentiating plumages.
So another weekend in shorebird paradise produced only 16 species, plus a
head scratcher.........
Also seen were 2 Savannah Sparrows, 2 Coots and I took some nice head shots
of two Green-winged Teal that sat tight as the Peregrine sped by and were too
afraid to flush and allowed me to get up close for the photos.
Good Birding!!!
Jeff R. Wilson
OL'COOT / TLBA
Bartlett, TN
=================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:
