[TN-Bird] Upland Sandpipers - Peregrine -Ensley Bottoms

Aug. 9,10 - 2008
Ensley Bottoms
Shelby Co. TN
 
Hap Chambers came down for the day after finding and photographing a really  
nice Reeve at the Phillippy Pits in Lake Co. Friday afternoon. Saturday, the  
shorebirds were acting funny, looking up at every vulture and Mississippi 
Kite.  We had a huge number of Wind Birds in the morning, 5,000+ but after a  
Peregrine did its thing the flats were just about wiped clean with the majority 
 
of the birds not returning till after Hap left at 3 PM. 
 
After looking for the Peregrine all morning, we went out to the spread  
fields to look for Uplands and here we found a few thousand Least Sandpipers  
hiding among the dirt clods. One bird's constant stares led me finally to the  
Peregrine, just a dot in the sky. We watched it till it folded up and started a 
 
stoop, this caused all the birds to take to the air and two nearby Uplands to  
start calling out from their hiding places in the weeds.
 
Last week, we had a big push of Western Sandpipers when I had over a  hundred 
adults, Thursday on a quick trip I saw only one, Saturday  and Sunday, try as 
we might we could come up with not even one.  Within a week or 10 days we 
should see the first immature Westerns. My  first immature shorebird for the 
season was a surprise Semipalmated Sandpiper  and we had about a dozen of this 
beauties in the flocks the past two days  and the first few juvenile fire brand 
Least Sandpipers were enjoyed.
 
The dozen species seen this weekend included good numbers of Semipalmated  
Plovers, with Least, Semipalmated and Pectoral Sandpipers, plus 2  Upland 
Sandpipers, a single Short-billed Dowitcher with two flybys that appeared  to 
be 
Long-billed but they never set down. Spotted Sandpipers totaled 26  individuals 
while Black-necked Stilts were down to single digits. Solitary  Sandpipers have 
again become solitary or at least not very friendly and only 2  Lesser 
Yellowlegs were found on Saturday. Numbers were again pretty high for the  
weekend, 
except when the Peregrine was tending the flocks. Birds were flying  over and 
one time 32 Pectorals came over the "pits" but just kept going  south. The 
next two weeks should be exciting!
 
The cool weather turned on the Blue Grosbeaks and Song Sparrows as they  were 
singing like it was spring and molting Horned Larks families were grouping  
up into loose flocks.
 
Good Birding  !!!
Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA
6300 Memphis-Arlington Road
Bartlett, TN  38135
http://www.pbase.com/ol_coot/
What is this feathered thing that  lifts my heart to the heavens.



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