[TN-Bird] Shorebirds Species Increase
- From: OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2004 00:04:58 EDT
July 11, 2004
Lauderdale, Dyer, Lake Co. TN
Fulton Co. KY
Shorebirds kept making appearance but in only at scattered locations. At
Chickasaw NWR the Egrets and Herons held any concentrations of shorebirds at
bay.
I've seen both Great Egrets and Great Blues catch and eat peeps and these
birds were wall to wall at the refuge. There were 65 Am. White Pelicans lolling
about and I later found 76 on a slip of a sand bar at Tiptonville.
At White Lake Refuge, as expected the wet habitat has practically
disappeared, 1 Black-necked Stilt and 2 Least Sandpipers were the lot. I did
see a single
Coot, 1 male Green-winged Teal, 1 Shoveler, 2 adult Blue-winged Teal with a
just fledged young trying to keep up with the parents in the air and lots of
Mallards.
At 103 Highway and Hurd Loop Road, I flushed 1 Solitary Sandpiper. Another
Solitary was found in a small wet area and the last refuge for shorebirds at
this location. The surprise bird here was photographed, an alternate plumaged
Dunlin, my first ever for July. I have a sprinkling of sightings in mid August
but they usually are only seen late in migration. Six Least Sandpipers were the
only other Wind Birds seen here.
The mother load was found at Phillippy Pits, this field consistently out
produces all the managed habitat in the area. Here I counted, 21 Black-necked
Stilts, mostly unpaired birds but a few may stay and try late nesting. I had
found
nests there last week and those nests are still being tended. The other goodi
es were, 1 Semipalmated Plover that was right on schedule, 39 Lesser
Yellowlegs, 2 Solitary Sandpipers, 4 Pectoral Sandpipers, one male was so huge
and a
female so small that it was hard to believe they were the same species when
standing side by side, 1 Stilt Sandpiper in alternate plumage, 2 Short-billed
Dowitcher and 9 Least Sandpipers.
At three locations in KY, I had 9 Black-necked Stilts, down as I expected
from the huge number of last week. There are 2 nests at one location as I
watched
for over an hour to see nest tending change overs. I suspected a third nest
but no luck before I had to move on. A pair looked like they were just hanging
out at another location, while a single flew over at another. I checked for
the adults with young but their wet hole had dried and evidently they had led
their charges away. I had 3 Pectoral and 5 Least to round out the list. I also
counted over 200 Cliff Swallows feeding and perching over a field of flooded
out corn stubble.
Good Birding!!!
Jeff R. Wilson
OL'COOT / TLBA
Bartlett, TN
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