[TN-Bird] Weekend Birding / World's Smallest Gull / LONG

November 19-20, 2005
Mud Island, Ensley Bottoms -Shelby Co.
Lauderdale Waterfowl Refuge - Lauderdale Co.
Reelfoot Area - Lake-Obion-Dyer, Co's
 
An early Saturday a visit to the Mississippi River at Memphis, revealed a  
movement of ducks, as strings and skeins passed in the gray sky. The majority  
identified were Shoveler, Pintail, Gadwall and Scuap.
 
At TVA Lake in Ensley, I found 2 Canvasback, 8 Redhead, Hooded, Shoveler,  
Gadwall, Ring-neck, Greater and Lesser Scuap plus Kingfisher, Pied-billed  
Grebes and Coots. Canada Geese, DC Cormorants and Ring-billed Gulls were  
resting 
on the mud flat.
 
At the Pits, there were only about 100 Least Sandpipers and 4 Wilson's  Snipe 
with 1 Lesser Yellowlegs. American Kestrels, 5 Red-tailed Hawks and a  
Cooper's kept everyone awake and alert.
 
At Lauderdale Waterfowl Refuge, the duck numbers are building as the area  is 
flooded. Here I counted 134 Wilson's Snipe and listed the following ducks,  
Mallard (one was melanistic in coloration with a sooty wash over the whole 
body,  not a hybrid and I got one photo) Gadwall, Shoveler, Ring-necked, Ruddy, 
 
Wood, Wigeon, Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup and Hooded Merganser.  
Standing guard looking for lunch were, Bald Eagle (mature), Red-tailed  Hawks, 
including a western type light morph, a dark morph and 3 or 4 eastern.  One 
immature Harrier coursed the edges looking for unwary Green-winged Teal or a  
coot.
 
On the Great River Road, there were the regular sentinel Red-tails and 3  
Great Egrets in a Dyer Co. barrow pit. At Mooring I had small flocks of 
American  
Pipits with a few Lapland Longspurs and one of many Loggerhead Shrikes seen  
in the area. I checked the Smith's Longspur Field and it looks better than it  
has in couple of years. Mike, Nancy and I checked it out Sunday with no 
results  but it should produce this year.
 
On the Mississippi River at Tiptonville Landing, I had quite a collection  of 
Herring, Ring-billed and Bonaparte's Gulls plus a single Forster's Tern.  
Farther up the road, I located Least Sandpipers, Killdeer and 3 Brewer's  
Blackbirds. On Sunday, Mike, Nancy and I had over 100 Least Sandpipers and 50  
Rusty 
Blackbirds in the same wet area.
 
Saturday afternoon, I started scanning Reelfoot Lake from Champey Pocket,  
Keystone and the Reelfoot State Park Boat Ramp east of the washout. There were  
gulls everywhere and ducks galore spread out all over the lake. Too many for 
one  person to handle. I watched as the gulls started to go to roost and ended 
up  viewing the concentration at the boat ramp.
 
Here, I struck pay dirt with an adult Little Gull  dancing over the growing 
mass of gulls that was joined shortly thereafter by a  first winter bird. As 
striking as the adult's rounded, white trimmed, charcoal  underwings were, the 
im
mature bird's bold black and white upper wing pattern was  just as glorious 
in the bright setting sun. There were about 100 White  Pelicans using the south 
end of the lake and I had Horned Grebes plus a single  Tree Swallow.
 
On the way to my room in Dyersburg, the smile dressing my face as I savored  
the find, was broadened when I stopped briefly in Dyer County and found a  
Short-eared Owl in the ditch beside the road. Sweet Dreams of some fine  
birding.
 
I was joined by Mike Todd early Sunday and we first scanned from the boat  
ramp but the birds had moved back west on the lake so we tried Keystone Park.  
There I picked up the immature bird flying straight away but the look was not  
great with the sun placement, so we moved to some Cypress Trees west of  
White's Landing. Here Mike run up on a large grebe with a big bill but  he was 
looking through a bush, so we moved down and found an adult Red-necked  Grebe 
which we shared with Nancy Moore after she arrived.
 
A quick trip to Tiptonville Landing produced trading Snow, Ross's  and 
Greater White-fronted Geese along with numerous flyovers of small groups of  
calling 
American Pipits and Lapland Longspurs.
 
Mike re found the immature Little Gull and we enjoyed great looks from the  
boat ramp and points to the west with the best viewing late in the day at the  
boardwalk at the state park. At this location, I came across a winter  
plumaged Franklin's Gull and finally at last light the ADULT LITTLE GULL flew  
past 
us several times as it came to roost. Evidently the bird is using a  different 
area to feed and comes to this area only to roost. You can go  cross-eyed 
watching the dancing masses.
 
Watching these two small gulls flying next to Bonaparte's really allows you  
to appreciate just how small they are, at just 11 inches and at 4.2  oz, it 
matches the size and weight of a dowitcher!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Mike and I both were impressed with the huge numbers of gulls using the  area 
but the roosting mass is one of the largest concentration we  have ever seen 
on the lake. Most of the birds that came in late were from off  the lake to 
the west and it was one impressive aggregation.
   
Good Birding  !!!

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



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