[TN-Bird] Shorebirds galore!!!

From: Mark Greene <greenesnake@xxxxxxxxx>
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2010 15:19:33 -0700 (PDT)
April 8, 2010
Dyer & Lake Counties
I started north after lunch along the Great River Road in Dyer Co. It rained a 
lot overnight and there are now pools of water all over the place. Just south 
of the jct. with Hwy 103 I encountered my first small group of shorebirds - 2 
Black-necked Stilts and 6 Greater Yellowlegs. Not much else was seen until I 
got into Lake County. There were several ducks (Blue-winged & Green-winged 
Teal, N. Shovelers, Gadwall, Mallards) & lots of coots in Mud Lake but the 
only shorebirds were 5 Greater Yellowlegs. I little further north on Robinson 
Bayou Rd. at the jct. of Hampton Road I found the mother load! I had 12 Bald 
Eagles in the area with as many as 6 sitting on the ground and in the 
shallow at once and others flying around so the shorebirds were nervous and 
kept flying around a lot and were difficult to count. The eagles are feeding on 
carp and other fish that are trapped in the flooded fields. I also had to 
contend with traffic on this narrow 2 lane
 county road and I had to move several times as I scoped the flocks from the 
truck. I was able to tally the following in the shorebird department:

Greater Yellowlegs - 1500+
Lesser Yellowlegs - 300+
American Golden-Plover - 1200+ (finally a big flock!)
Pectoral Sandpiper - 800+
Least Sandpiper - 200+
Black-necked Stilt - 4
Short-billed Dowitcher - 8 
Wilson's Snipe - 2

The dowitchers were way in the back and I could never get good looks at them 
but once when they were flushed by the eagles I heard the distinctive call of a 
Short-billed.

I also had 3 Bonaparte's Gulls and 6 Fish Crows in the area and I had 2 
Loggerhead Shrikes on Robinson Bayou Road. A little further north I had 100+ 
Ring-billed Gulls sitting on the water in a flooded field and another 200 or so 
Greater Yellowlegs. 

Two or three times most of the entire group of shorebirds would flush, several 
hundred at a time, and fly around and then most would setlle back in and 
continue feeding. There's really no telling what else might be in there as I 
really didn't have the time to go through the flock carefully and slowly. I 
also didn't make it any farther north than Mooring so I don't know what is at 
Black Bayou, the Phillipy Pits, Ibis Hole, etc.

I did locate 2 Upland Sandpipers in a field just northwest of the above 
location on Asa Guess Road. those plus Killdeer brought my shorebird total for 
the day up to 10 species.

The area where I had all the shorebirds is at the jct. of Robinson Bayou Road & 
Hampton Road. The bulk of the birds are on the west side of Robinson Bayou Road 
between Robinson Bayou Road & the Levee Road. If you were on Hwy. 78 in 
Ridgely, turn west on Riley Road. After you cross the railroad tracks it turns 
into Hampton Road. Keep going west until you run into Robinson Bayou Road and 
you're there (N36° 16.294', W089° 31.065').

If I get time I will try to scope the flock more carefully tomorrow.

Good birding,

Mark Greene
Trenton, TN
Gibson County


      
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[TN-Bird] Shorebirds galore!!!

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