[bristol-birds] Yellow-headed Blackbird (Rankin Bottom)

From: Wallace Coffey <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: 1-A Bristol-Birds <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 22:14:39 -0300
        Today (8/14/02),  while birding at Rankin Bottom, Cocke Co., TN,  we
had a female Yellow-headed Blackbird. 
        The brid was observed for about 40 minutes between the hours of 3
p.m. and 4 p.m. by Wallace Coffey and Tom Horsch.
        We are posting four of 19 digital photos taken thru my Kowa scope
with a zoom lens mostly between 40x and 60x.
        The better photos may be seen on a web page at:

http://www.adventuredamascus.com/adventure/adventurefolder/rankin.htm

        In good sun light   with the sun to our back, we observed the bird
near the water's edge across the French Broad Embayment on the far shore.
It was walking and sometimes running about among shorebirds and often stood
near Killdeer.  It was nearly the size of the killdeer.   At one point it
perched about 24 inches above the ground in a small bush back from the
water's edge.  When on the mudflats in a well-exposed area,  it appeared to
be food gathering.
        For those wanting to see it if it remains,  look for a blackbird
walking around  the shoreline which will, from time to time, fly a few yards
to another area and continue feeding.  Remember that this is at great
distance and it appears just to be a small black shorebird when seen with
binoculars at that distance.
        It has an upright posture, holds it tail nearly dragging the grown,
has black legs and feet and the feet seem rather large.  It has what appears
to be a black back and we did not detect any white on the back or the wings.
The tail appears all black with no light markings.  It is slightly rounded
tail with no notch.  The bill is somewhat light and that can be seen with a
scope set at higher power.  The yellow eye-stripe is evident.  At times
there appears to be some yellow above the bill between the eye but that was
not a certainty.  The throat appears to be the same color as the breast and
eye-stripe.  There appears to be a dark patch either thru the eye but at
least around and slightly behind the eye.  The distance is so great and it
is hard to see the details with extreme clarity.
        There are few records of this rare bird in East Tennessee.
        We had 15 Short-billed Dowitchers (white rump patch seen when flying
around after being alarmed).  There were four Semipalmated Plover, Lesser
Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, cormorants, many
Great Egrets and possibly other birds I failed to note and don't now recall
while keying this message.
        We spent so much time and energy on the Yellow-head Blackbird that
we were driven from the shore by the 99 degree heat and had to give it up
without a serious and careful study of all the possible shorebirds.
        There are, as Boyd Sharp told us Sunday, "lots of shorebirds but not
a lot of different species of shorebirds."

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN          


 

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[bristol-birds] Yellow-headed Blackbird (Rankin Bottom)

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