[Bristol-Birds] Tayor's Bend - Cocke County

  • From: "michael sledjeski" <mtnsylva@xxxxxxx>
  • To: TN-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 00:38:15 -0400

Douglas Lake (elevation: 957.5), 9/9/07,  5:30 - 8:00 PM, by canoe

Cold front & rain moving in, so we took advantage of the late sunshine & went out to the muddiest flats to see who was stopping over. When we arrived at Dutch Bottoms, there were 100+ shorebirds present, but they all took flight as we were unloading. We went across the lake to Taylor's Bend and found a nice assortment of waterbirds.

I was focussing on a greater yellowlegs when a killdeer called an alarm & a mass of shorebirds took flight. The yellowlegs proceeded to sink into the water down to its eyeballs, with a hunk of wing feathers showing behind. It slowly resumed feeding in a couple of minutes, while the peep flock dashed back & forth along the shore, then settled approximately where they'd begun. Fine example of energy conservation.

Great egrets were still flying in to the shallows behind the long mudbar after sunset. It appears that they've moved their roost from Leadvale, 6 miles upriver, closer to the best fishing. Shorter commute, more energy conserved.

Notable, and photographed, at Taylor's Bend today:
Blue-winged teal (63)
Great egret (212)
Great blue heron (43)

Semipalmated plover (12)
Killdeer - many
Greater yellowlegs (5)
Lesser yellowlegs (14)
Willet
Spotted sandpiper (2)
Ruddy turnstone (3)
Solitary sandpiper (3)
Semipalm. sandpiper
Western sandpiper
Least sandpiper
Peeps (80+, didn't pick through for a count, but looked for Baird's)
Baird's sandpiper (1, then at least 4 at Dutch Bottoms in the growing darkness)
Pectoral sandpiper (9)
Stilt sandpiper (7)
Short-billed dowitcher (2)

Michael Sledjeski & Leslie Gibbens
Del Rio TN


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