[TN-Bird] Standifer Gap Marsh 12-17-07, and yard birds

My mother and I took a quick stop at the marsh yesterday (12-17-07) from
approx 4:25 to 4:50 pm just to check and see if the dark ibis reported by
David Patterson on 12-11-07 was still there. I was pretty doubtful since it
has been so long and  I've seen no more reports. During our stop we didn't
see it, but we only had a short time since we had an appointment immediately
following. A nice treat was a huge flock (50+) of RUSTY BLACKBIRDS just past
the gate in a large bare tree with surprisingly only a few female Red-wings
mixed in.
I didn't take much time to sort through the sparrows since we were time
pressed, so I mainly just scanned through the ducks, here's what I found:
Green-winged Teal - 25+
Gadwall - 60+
Mallard - 25+
NORTHERN PINTAIL - 3 males
HOODED MERGANSER - 3 -- 1 male, 1 female, and one juvenile male, a nice
trio!
Ring-necked Duck - 1 female
American Coot - 5+
 The trio of Hooded Mergansers was a first for me at the marsh, and it was
so awesome to see 3 plumages all in one scope view!
In the yard (in Ringgold, GA), among the many White-throated, Song, and
Swamp Sparrows, I've been having quite a few Fox Sparrows in the yard,
definitely one of the more uncommon of the sparrows I have here, but I had
the highest count in the yard ever, 5 individuals! It almost seems there
have been an irruption of Fox Sparrows also, as I usually only get them once
every 1 or 2 years! Could this be related to the irruption of Red-breasted
Nuthatches (of which I'm still getting several individuals regularly)?

Good Birding!

David Hollie
RInggold, GA
Catoosa Co.


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