[Bristol-Birds] Black Terns at Muicks; Blue-winged Teals at Paddle Creek

  • From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2010 21:00:46 -0400



















 FEELS LIKE GOOD STORM BIRDING.....A FEW POSSIBLE STORM BIRDS

The first Black Terns reported at Musick's
Campground in more than six weeks came
into the Spring Creek Embayment along the
Sullivan Co., TN and Washington Co., VA
border late Friday (3 Sep 2010).

A SSW wind of about 10 mph was flowing
into a channel behind the eastward influence
of Hurricane Earl as it had passed up the
Atlantic.  Coupled with a nice front to our 
west and dropping barometric pressure
during the day, conditions for a light rain
became right from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. as warmer air moved into the region 
behind a breezy and cool morning and early afternoon.  Rain fell over
eastern Sullivan County during that hour.

The rain turned serious about 7:45 p.m. at Musick's with a steady win
coming up the lake out of Tennessee.  I only had my umbrella and no
rain coat so I got a good soaking.

Almost out of nowhere, 11 Black Terns suddenly fell out of the sky and
swept thru the rain, up and down the channel.  At the peak of the downpour,
as visibility grew more limited and dim,  an Osprey arrived and
was furiously diving throughout the rain, making at least three drops
after fish.  It was little more than a silhouette.

The rain continued steady until I eventually pulled my car off TN 394
because the wipers could not stay ahead of the runoff.

I had headed out just after the first light rains to check Paddle Creek
Pond along Paddle Creek Rd. in eastern Sullivan Co., TN.  The 
flats were active but the wind birds scattered briefly as a flock of
18 Blue-winged Teal came quickly over the cornfield and down to
the shoreline at the upper end.

Otherwise a few shorethings were there:

Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 3
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Green Heron 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 1

Yesterday's Greater Yellowlegs apparently had moved on.

Since the hurricane moved along the Atlantic, it possibly pushed
some migrants a little more west.  Those of you headed to 
Rankin Bottoms for the Saturday afternoon field trip, may find a
thing or two extra.  This is not to say there will be pelagics
and such but there is always a chance of something under these
conditions.

Hurricane Earl was on the brink of diminishing to a tropical storm 
and was far up the coast and earlier downgraded to a Category 1 
storm on Friday.

Let's go birding . . . .

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN

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  • » [Bristol-Birds] Black Terns at Muicks; Blue-winged Teals at Paddle Creek - Wallace Coffey