[birdky] BKY: RPT -- West KY Sept 7-8

From: Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 12:24:54 -0400
Richard Healy and I birded various points in west KY, mostly on Sept 8.

Along the Miss River, 2 Buff-breasted Sandpipers provided a real highlight
for me.  I guess they were young males and they were practicing their
"wing-waving" displays on one another out on a sandbar.  This is a
spectacular behavior that I have seen photos of and read about, but had
never seen.  First one, then both of the birds began the one-wing-up,
flagging display at one another, I guess as they bickered over a feeding
spot.  These beautiful shorebirds have always seemed somewhat sociable to me
in the field, but these guys wanted nothing to do with one another.  I'm not
sure if they had things backwards or if this is a display that goes both
ways, but the wing farthest from the intruder was the one being raised and
waved back and forth in a movement somewhat reminiscent of the waving
chelipods (pinchers) of fiddler crabs in coastal marshes.  The Birds of N
Amer account (No. 91) shows this as a display of the underwing, but both
birds were leaning towards one another with their back and upperside of the
wing in view to the other.  When this standoff did not suffice to settle the
dispute, one of the two birds raised both wings, almost fully extending and
cupping them upward and forward, and the bird strutted right towards the
other, which soon yielded.  This display (which is shown in the BNA account)
is apparently mostly a lekking one, but here it was obviously used in an
aggressive manner.  The text of the BNA account gives a brief but riveting
description of the lekking displays given prior to copulation; it also notes
some of the same displays being used on each other on the wintering grounds,
and occasionally in migration.  Perhaps others have seen this behavior, but
I certainly had not; it was an especially neat sight.

Shorebirds are still not abundant nor especially diverse along the Miss,
even though the habitat has improved in the past week.  Sanderling and
Baird's were the only other notable species on Sunday.  Least Terns (mostly
juvies) remain conspicuous but much reduced in numbers of previous weeks
now. No other gulls or terns were seen.

B-n Stilts and some of the waders seem to have departed Lake No 9, although
there are still a good number of the latter, and there are now more
waterfowl (until early season arrives??).  About 40 Am White Pelicans and 2
juvie Least Terns were also present.  We couldn't find a Miss Kite anywhere,
despite good conditions.

We ran into one decent warbler flock at Westvaco WMA that contained both
Blue- and Golden-winged, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Ovenbird, and some local
nesters including Prothonotary, Parula, Am Redstart, Kentucky and Acadian
Flycat (still in song).

We ended the day with a nice display by the Barkley Dam Scissor-tailed
Flycats.  Both adults are in heavy molt and have lost most of their tail
feathers (sure would be nice to find some of them!).  If it wasn't for the
outer pair of tail feathers on both birds, the three youngsters would have
longer tails than their parents now!  A Red-tailed Hawk was scanning the
surroundings from the top of one of the tall power poles NE of the boat
ramp, and the youngsters were taking turns taking pot shots at the intruder.
It was interesting that neither of the adults were in charge of running away
this predator, but the young birds were all excited about him, 'kip' ing
emphatically and twitching their long tail feathers.  When the hawk finally
took flight towards the dam, all three set out in chase; one feisty
youngster persisted in following the red-tail several hundred yards, diving
at its back repeatedly in kingbird-like fashion . . . all in practice for
hopefully another successful nesting season somewhere in KY next year :o)

bpb, Louisville
brainard.palmer-ball@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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[birdky] BKY: RPT -- West KY Sept 7-8

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