[TN-Bird] TN-MS Weekend

DEC. 24-25, 2006
MS RV-Ensley, TN
Tunica Co,MS
 
Two very different days producing in different ways. The falling  Mississippi 
River at Mud Island produced a sandbar which in turn the Peregrine  Falcon 
again took up perching and hunting. On Sunday it just sat and preened but  on a 
foggy Christmas morn, it was feasting on duck and living up fully to  its 
name, Duck Hawk. A few Ring-billed Gulls and Great Blue Herons were the only  
birds still in view of the king's perch.
 
TVA Lake held the usual duck ensemble with two Lesser Scaup wearing bill  
tags, a female in pink and a male in red. Both days a small flock of  
Yellow-rumped Warblers were feeding in the Phragmites, something I'd never seen 
 before 
as few birds really like the stuff. A loud phish produced a Marsh  Wren both 
mornings, evidently it liked the infectious hustle and bustle of  the flock. 
Over 100 DC Cormorants dropped in and began diving for shad, amazing  how many 
they caught in that small area.
 
After a couple of late nights putting together Christmas presents for grand  
kids, I enjoyed the two different early mornings this weekend. Calm fog was in 
 order as the weather started to change Sunday but I really do love sitting 
in  the rain and just watching the different species doing their survival 
thing. 
 
In Tunica County, not one species was missing a beat in the rain and  wind 
that caused most humans to seek shelter. Pipits, Lapland Longspurs and  Western 
Meadowlarks were strolling the wet fields and grassy areas. Sparrows,  
including 3 Vesper were flitting, feeding and chasing one another in all type 
of  
habitat while Harriers, harried and Red-tailed Hawks watched for the unwary. I  
was allowed one photo of a Sharp-shinned Hawk that sat in a tree deciding which 
 grove to dash through and snatch an unlucky Christmas treat. It did not take 
it  long to decide and I could watch its progress by the birds bailing out of 
the  tree line,  like an old  cop chase scene in a Max Sennet movie. Geese  
were moving and feeding in the Rice Fields in ever growing numbers and I found  
63 SANDHILL CRANES in one field, the same field where Gene Knight and I  
discovered the first wintering flock of 7 birds some years back. A  great big 
treat were the 4 TRUMPETER SWANS (3 adults and an immature) that have  taken up 
feeding in a small wet area off Bond Road in Tunica Co. Even at a half  mile 
they were big enough to photograph, one wears a neck band applied on the  young 
bird a few years back in OHIO!
 
I watched hundreds of Great Blue Herons, somberly standing around  the 
catfish ponds, waiting for that one not so healthy catfish to swim close to  
the 
bank. They actually perform a service by weeding out the sick fish as they  
cannot get to the healthy catfish, that stay on the bottom.  At one  place 
three 
gray birds flushed from a ditch line, the center bird  looked as if someone had 
cut it off both front and back, an adult  BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON was trying 
out the Great Blue life  style. It might try to over winter along Hot 
Thornton Road. 
 
The year is fast approaching its final days, another year of great birds,  
birding and birding friends. Looking forward hopefully to experiencing more of  
the same in the coming year.
 
Season's Greetings and get out and bird, rain or shine, hot or cold, the  
birds are always waiting to teach.   
Good Birding  !!!

Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA
6298 Memphis-Arlington Road
Bartlett, TN  38135



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