Hey y'all, Here is Saturday's eBird list with Ronnies embedded pics from
RRNWR Yates tract. Cheers and have a good week! (:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30304191
Terry
On Sat, Jun 18, 2016 at 4:13 PM, Terry Davis <terkchip@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all,
Baton Rouge area birders Marybeth Lima and Lynn Hathaway, then Jay Huner
of Boyce, La, joined Larry Raymond, Ronnie Maum, Dot Rambin and I for a
survey of Yates tract this morning.
Man was it awfully hot early- and muggy! While we didn't do quite as well
as Remsen, et al, in the shorebird department farther south yesterday, we
did score what I believe to be a near, if not record early, GREATER
Yellowlegs fall arrival. the bird was first noticed and id'ed from around
300 yards away framed in the scope. We crept somewhat closer and Ronnie was
able to get some very distant photos from around 200 yards, one of which
shows the proportionately long bill well. We flushed the bird from a mere
25' away after driving around and to the north end of unit 7, near where it
had been previously flushed by two fighter jets on a practice run. The bird
caught everyone off-guard the second time around, regarding photos. It was
also silent the entire time we observed.
Our target birds were Bell's Vireo and Willow Flycatcher, both of which
Ronnie did exceptionally well documenting with photos. We surveyed the
areas where they're breeding, thoroughly, finding 8 separate male Bell's
Vireo, then 1 (almost certainly 2) Willow Flycatcher. A female Northern
Shoveler in unit 5 looked to be healthy but we weren't certain whether it
was injured. We did not approach closely to find out.
Others somewhat mentionable were 2 Black-bellied whistling Duck headed
south early. Possible early dispersing Killdeer are beginning to arrive
with 3 birds noted flying high over the levee toward the units early on,
then 15 total (12 in moist soil units). There are no general areas good for
breeders extremely close by to the south. We missed several things and some
seemed in lower numbers than usual, although singing Painted and Indigo
Bunting, Yellow-breasted Chat and Dickcissel numbers were high as usual.
List and pics to come within next couple of days. Thanks to all for
joining us. We had a great time!
(:
Terry
