[birdky] FULL RPT: West KY Sept 21-23

From: brainard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: BIRDKY <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2011 11:18:46 -0400 (EDT)
Mark Monroe, Eddie Huber, and myself birded along the Miss River Wed afternoon 
thru Friday morning. We were hoping for a wayward Cave Swallow as reported 
recently by Jeff Wilson just south of the state line in TN and wanted to test 
several spots as hawkwatching lookouts. Highlights of our wanderings follow:

Sept 21: Lower Hickman Bottoms, Fulton County, pretty devoid of birds; not a 
lot of shorebirds at Lake No. 9 (4 Amer. Golden-Plovers and a juv. Western 
Sandpiper were best); we did watch one flock of at least 1000 swallows for an 
hour or so with many trading in and out; found a few Trees, Barns, Banks, and 
Cliffs with the many Rough-wingeds, but only a partially albino Rough-wing that 
got us excited for a few minutes. At Ky Dam Village we saw a few Common Terns, 
at least 200 Forster's Terns, and 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the 
marina roofs with many Ringers and some Herrings.

Sept 22: Spent much of the morning at and near Obion WMA; nice warbler flocks; 
tallied 21 species on the day including a couple of Hoodeds, Worm-eating, 
Prothonotary, Yellow, 3 Mourning, 3 Golden-winged, and 2 Canadas. Also had 4 
Bobolinks and a few Dickcissels heard. On way north along Upper Bottom Road we 
had a gorgeous adult Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and got to watch an Olive-sided 
Flycatcher woof down a huge underwing moth (black hindwing type). Other good 
birds included a relatively early Lincoln's Sparrow and a few small groups of 
Broad-winged Hawks, 2 pass-by Peregrine Falcons, and a Merlin. There were also 
not many migrant waterbirds, but a flock of at least 100 American White 
Pelicans and 19 Northern Pintail were of interest. Late in the day we finally 
made it up to Mitchell Lake on Ballard WMA where we could not even find a 
Killdeer! 

Sept 23: Spent most of day around Wickliffe with about 2 hours hawkwatching 
from the Fort Jefferson Memorial Cross on the hill overlooking the Miss River 
south of town. In addition to 6 or more Bald Eagles, a few Accipiters and 
Red-shouldereds, one unid'd larger falcon, and perhaps 30 Broad-winged Hawks, 
the distinct highlight were the two immature or female Anhingas that Mark spied 
while scanning a kettle of vultures. We figured the birds were maybe 2 miles to 
the north, but we had good light and a clear view of the circling birds from 
about their same altitude from our perched perspective and were able to see the 
nice white markings on top of the wings when they soared with backs toward us. 
Bars on the Miss River are now exposed, but we didn't even see a Killdeer on 
one; we did watch a Merlin using the same perch for about 15 minutes as it 
periodically sallied out after insects. In the afternoon, scans of a number of 
spots on the north ends of Ky Lake and Lake Barkley yielded only common 
species. An adult Snowy Egret at Eddy Creek was our ONLY small heron/egret of 
the trip.

bpb, msm, & ebh, Louisville
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[birdky] FULL RPT: West KY Sept 21-23

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