Hello Kentucky Birders, During a visit with family in Mayfield, I was able to get out birding a couple of mornings and wanted to report my sightings. On 7/21, I explored northeast Graves County in the vicinity of Kaler Bottoms WMA and crossings of the West Fork of Clarks River. My first stop was on McKendree Church Rd, where I heard 2 Parulas, Acadian Flycatcher and Red-headed Woodpecker. At the beginning of Tim Rd (at the intersection with KY 301), there was an overgrown pasture with an occasional small bush a bit taller than the grass on the right (south) side of the road. I initially slowed here to check out a flock of swallows, but then heard a "tsi-lick" coming from the field. I stopped and quickly found a Henslow's Sparrow sitting in one of the small bushes. It sat and sang in full view for as long as I cared to look at it. This appears to be west of the breeding range of Henslow's shown in Sibley or Peterson, so I am not sure how locally significant this sighting may be. While watching the sparrow, I heard a Summer Tanager and a Mississippi Kite flew by. In all, I had 4 kite sightings of at least 3 different birds (2 sightings further east on Tim Rd, perhaps the same bird, and one further north on Kaler Mill Rd). I did not realize that kites could be found "inland" away from the major rivers. Also on Tim Rd, I heard White-Eyed Vireo, Yellow-breasted Chat and saw 2 Wood Ducks near the river crossing and then heard Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager and Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher at the Old Sandhill Cemetery. Other finds were a singing Redstart on Old Clay Pit Rd; 2 Dickcissels at the reverse curve in Hopewell Rd just north of the Purchase Parkway; and a Bell's Vireo behind my in-laws house on Natchez Trace in Mayfield. 58 species in all. On 7/23, my wife and I explored the wildlife management areas in Ballard Co. since these are closed to public access when we usually visit at the holidays. We began at Swan Lake WMA, where a puddle in the farm field before the gate held numerous Great Egret, with lesser numbers of Little Blue Herons and one each of Snowy Egret and Black-Crowned Night Heron, along with 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, 5 Lesser Yellowlegs. 2 Least Terns made a pass through and Cliff and Barn Swallows were about. At Swan Pond, we saw a single DC Cormorant, an immature Bald Eagle, Warbling Vireo and Orchard Oriole. Continuing down the same road, we found Green Heron, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 5 Semipalm Sands and more Pecs in Long Pond. We found numbers of Purple Martin, Tree Swallow and Rough-Winged Swallow, but could not locate any Banks. We also saw Red-headed Woodpecker, Wood Duck and heard a Dickcissel. We then proceeded to explore, turning onto the next road east of Swan Lake (name?) that eventually connected to Fish Lake Rd through Peal WMA. Driving along, we flushed first a Barred Owl and then a Broad-Winged Hawk. Those roads satisfied our need for adventure, so we headed back to the main road and proceeded to Ballard WMA. At Ballard, songbird activity had slowed down since it was around noon and getting hot. We did find some nice shorebirds at Mitchell Lake from the levee and from the road running along the south shore. There were numerous Pectorals and Killdeer, 12-15 Spotteds, 8 Solitary Sandpipers, 6 Least Sandpipers and 6 Stilt Sandpipers (from the levee only). We also had a single Mississippi Kite. 73 species in all. Both outings were enjoyable. I was a bit disappointed at some birds that I could not find such as Prothonotary or Yellow-throated Warbler and Grasshopper and Vesper Sparrow. I noticed that Indigo Buntings were everywhere, but that Blue Grosbeak seemed scarce (they are found in roughly equal numbers in DE). But since this was my first summertime birding outing in Kentucky, I added 20 birds to my state list. I made the modest milestone of 150 birds for the state, built from about one birding day a year in the state since 1999. Good Birding, Glen Lovelace III Seaford, DE glovelace AT dol.net ================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBERS============== The BIRDKY Mailing List requires you to sign your messages with first & last name, city, & state abbreviation. -------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, send e-mail to: birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx -------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send e-mail to: birdky-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject line. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Kentucky Ornithological Society web site at http://www.biology.eku.edu/kos.htm * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BIRDKY List Manager: Gary Ritchison, Richmond, KY E-mail: gary.ritchison@xxxxxxx