[birdky] RPT: Ballard CBC results plus a few odds and ends ...
- From: "Palmer-Ball, Brainard (EEC)" <Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxx>
- To: "BIRDKY" <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:32:54 -0500
Four particpants tallied 89 species on the Ballard County CBC on Monday.
Predicted sunshine did not appear until mid-afternoon, depressing temps in
addition to raptor activity. As opposed to some parts of the state I've been in
recently, there were LOTS of birds as usual ... except for Red-headed
Woodpeckers, which we MISSED entirely! Another remarkable miss was Great Horned
Owl. Again this year vultures were missed, but we *did* get some American Crows
(missed last year). Waterfowl numbers and diversity were lower than normal,
probably due in large part to lack of significant cold weather. We only saw one
Snow Goose on the ground (probably injured), but flocks of 100-a few hundred
were passing over all day long. Highlights included a Common Yellowthroat, a
House Wren, and 2 Le Conte's Sparrows. At least 4 American Woodcocks were heard
performing at dawn.
Last Saturday, Eddie Huber and I helped out with the KY portion of the Reelfoot
Lake count but highlights were pretty much lacking. The cold breeze and
intermittent rain/snow showers dampened activity some, but there were
definitely not a lot of songbirds in the woods.
On Sunday, Eddie and I managed to miss ALL of the good birds that had been in
the KY Lake area recently, including the Pacific Loon. We did get a glimpse of
a Le Conte's Sparrow at Clarks River NWR while looking for some reported swans.
When I got home I had an email from my brother-in-law, who forwarded an email
with an attached photo of a female Summer Tanager that has been coming to a
suet feeder near Frankfort this week ... a KY first for winter.
Yesterday, our party on the Green River Lake CBC (myself, Eddie Huber, Don
Pelly, and Shawchyi Vorisek) had about 65 species including TWO House Wrens
(about a mile and 30 minutes apart on the Green River WMA, Adair Co.). There
was a nice collection of Common Loons and common grebes on the lower part of
the lake, but recent rains have muddied the waters of the upper lake and few
waterbirds were seen there. Some of you know how hard it can be to find actual
blackbirds (i.e. icterids) on CBCs in central and eastern KY ... we ran into a
very nice mixed-species flock that contained Common Grackles, Red-winged
Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds, and Rusty Blackbirds in numbers of only 3-13
each ... oh if only we could run into a little flock like that on every count!
bpb, Louisville
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