Thursday, May 14Dyer & Lake Counties
My first stop when I got into Dyer County was at the Mississippi River boat
ramp at Boothspoint (off Bungie Road, which comes off of the Great River Road),
not far from the I-155 bridge that crosses the river. When I arrived, there
were swallows everywhere. Within 10 minutes I had all six species of regularly
occurring swallows - Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Norther Rough-winged Swallow,
Bank Swallow, Barn Swallow, and Cliff Swallow were all tallied. Swallows were
swirling out over the MS River by the thousands. I estimated that there were at
least 3000 swallows present and there were hundreds of Cliff Swallows. I
immediately began to think about the possibility of a Cave Swallow. I finally
located a bird in the flock that was the same size and shape of a Cliff Swallow
with a pale rump and a square tail but with a dark forehead and a PALE throat
for swallow species number seven - CAVE SWALLOW! I watched the bird for a
couple of minutes as it fed among the masses. There was no way to get a photo
as it was just too active. I lost it in the flock and then picked it back up
again a few minutes later in the scope. I watched it this time for maybe 30
seconds and it flew down river towards the bridge. New state bird!
There are 5 previous reports of Cave Swallow in Tennessee + one more probable
Cave Swallow report (21 Oct 2000 at Mud Island, Memphis, Shelby Co. by Jeff R.
Wilson):
(1) 2 on 30 Sept 2006, Mouth of Wolf River, Shelby Co. (Jeff R. Wilson)(2) 1 on
17 Sept 2011, Memphis, Shelby Co. (Jeff R. Wilson)(3) 1 on 18-19 Sept 2011,
Tiptonville Bar, Lake Co. (Jeff R. Wilson)(4) 2 on 24 Apr 2012, Mississippi
River, Shelby Co. (Jeff R. Wilson)(5) 2 on 7 Nov 2012, Musick's Campground
(Rick Knight)
As I traveled further north, there were even more swallows along the Tennemo
Levee Road and along Hwy. 103W.
A little while later I spotted what I'm almost certain was a Great-tailed
Grackle flying out across the Mississippi River but the bird was too far away
to confirm. The bird was with some other grackles and was way larger than the
other birds with a big wedge shaped tail but unfortunately it was flying out of
TN into MO so there was no chasing it.
Baltimore Orioles, Orchard Orioles, Warbling Vireos, Dickcissels, and Indigo
Buntings were everywhere along the Great River Road and the MS River. I only
had one Bobolink today (on Hwy 103W in Dyer County) where last week I had
hundreds along the levee. I also had a few Mississippi Kites along the Great
River Road. I only had a handful of shorebirds all day other than Killdeer -
two Lesser Yellowlegs at Moss Island WMA in Dyer County. Blackpoll Warblers
were my only migrant warblers on the day.
Good birding!
Mark GreeneTrenton, TNGibson County
