[TN-Bird] 21 Species of Shorebirds / Ensley/ Plus
- From: OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 19:54:08 EDT
April 27, 2005
Ensley Bottoms
Shelby Co. TN
After watching all the reports of a great fall out on the coast yesterday, I
thought a trip to the pits might yield a few goodies today, especially with
a stiff north wind blowing. I carved out 2 hours this AM from work but it was
way too little. I tried to get to all the nooks and crannies but did not
have enough time. I did not see any Western Kingbirds (they are due any day)
but
the Painted Buntings were swinging in the trees and singing to beat the band.
Shorebirds were spread about with over 2,000 counted in the time I had.
Everything, except 4 Golden-Plovers, was in the settling ponds. The Golden were
in a field to the west. Two mottled Black-bellied Plovers were a first of
season find. Semipalmated Plovers were scattered and Killdeer were on nests or
tending young. Black-necked Stilt numbers are a little low but plenty enough
for any to enjoy. The only Greater Yellowlegs I saw was in the company of a
interior Willet in breeding plumage. There were Lesser Yellowlegs feeding and
fussing everywhere and at least 78 Solitary were in the open enough to make
the
count but others I'm sure remained out of sight. Three Spotted Sandpipers
were seen flying with typical down bowed wings.
Semipalmated Sandpipers are still low in numbers with only 3 ferreted out in
the short time I had but that was more than Western Sandpipers at 1, a short
billed male with bright scaps. I had my first of the season Western
Sandpiper, a big female on Sunday while scouting west TN sites for this coming
weekend
search for a tickers list.
Least Sandpipers numbers grow and 2 Baird's Sandpipers in their distinctive
marbled breeding plumage were found in the bunch. Pectoral Sandpipers were
counted in huge blocks but few Dunlin could be found. Stilt Sandpipers were
represented by two individuals in mostly basic plumage where this past weekend
I
had a lot of them in breeding attire. A single Short-billed Dowitcher found
off to itself was another first of season bird and there are still 18
Long-billed Dowitchers spread around the pools. I saw only 1 Wilson's Snipe
but did
not push into the areas where I've been seeing them lately.
The Prettiest Bird of the Day award went to a full breeding plumaged, female
Wilson's Phalarope, first of season and best of show.
Other birds of note were; a single male Lesser Scaup in with the dabblers in
shallow water tipping up as best as he could. There were a lot of the
expected Mallards, Blue-winged Teal and Shovelers but there was a surprise pair
of
Black Ducks which I first thought might be Mottled but better looks revealed
their true ID.
A Sora has been feeding in one place for over a week now and a Nutria fed in
the same pool. They had hunted these invading rodents out because of the
tremendous damage they do to the dikes but a least one is back.
Going down Riverport Road I've been having a Gobbler and 5 hens at one
location almost every trip in and out but this AM I had a bird flying over the
transmission lines that threw me for a loop. I'm not use to seeing a Turkey
flying 200 feet up!
Good Birding!!!
Jeff R. Wilson
OL'COOT / TLBA
Bartlett, TN
=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================
The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
-----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society
Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
endorse the views or opinions expressed
by the members of this discussion group.
Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
========================================================
Other related posts:
- » [TN-Bird] 21 Species of Shorebirds / Ensley/ Plus
