[TN-Bird] Snow Flurries

Nov. 20-21, 2004
Ensley Bottoms
Shelby Co. 
Lauderdale Waterfowl Refuge
Lauderdale Co. TN
Reelfoot Area

In the early morning on Saturday, the sky hung low and a drizzling fog hugged 
the area. Above all this, as I sat scanning the ducks at TVA Lake was the 
almost constant yapping of high flying Snow Geese. After the skies drifted 
upward, I could soon watch these birds as they headed south, in the 6 flocks 
that 
passed over in the next two hours I was able to count 1619, Snows and Blues 
with 
a sprinkling of Ross's.

TVA Lake waterfowl numbers had increased but due to the constant movement in 
and out of McKellar Lake you never know just how many ducks are really using 
the area. The Surf Scoter and Red-breasted Merganser were photographed but the 
Black Scoter seen on Friday was a no show.

In the Pits the Sanderling numbers had risen to 15, the Western Sandpipers up 
to 9 and the Dunlin up to 19 but the Pectoral and Lesser Yellowlegs had 
evidently moved on south.

In the afternoon at Lauderdale WFR, there was a total of 19 species of 
waterfowl with no Tundra Swan or Canada Goose. Beside the regular fare, I had 1 
Canvasback, 5 Redhead and 3 Bufflehead. There was only a single Snow Goose 
among a 
group of 64 Greater White-fronted Geese but the SNOW FLURRIES over head 
continued with 460 Snows and Blues and again obvious Ross's mixed in, plus 
another 
34 Greater White-fronted.

Other birds at Lauderdale were 2 Greater Yellowlegs and 4 Long-billed 
Dowitchers. On Sunday afternoon I witnessed a pair of Black Ducks that took the 
mild 
weather as an invitation to breed and it seemed to catch on as a pair of 
nearby Mallards, not to be out done, proceeded to bob their heads and get it 
on...........

There is a very large number of black birds coming to roost at the refuge and 
I always like to scan these mind numbing masses for the chance of picking up 
a Yellow-headed. Finally after my eyeballs had almost given up on the swirling 
clouds, there was a flash of white in the flock. I focused in on the bird but 
unfortunately it was a symmetrically marked grackle with a solid white tail 
and large patches of white on each wing. There is also a large roost of crows 
to the north of the refuge and at one time 95 crows were seen flying over the 
Forked Deer. I heard one Fish Crow and witnessed its antics as it sat in the 
top of a near by tree. In the winter this location has become the most 
consistent producer for this species in west TN.

The Reelfoot area was pretty dead on Sunday as a drizzling rain settled in 
but I did have a Surf Scoter and Common Loon on the lake and 3 Western 
Meadowlarks and a few Lapland Longspurs near Mooring plus a dark morph and an 
adult 
Krider's Red-tail.


Good Birding!!!

Jeff R. Wilson
OL'COOT / TLBA
Bartlett, TN


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