On the 30th of January, eleven members of the Chattanooga Chapter of the TOS
went to Wheeler NWR near Decatur, Alabama, for a field trip led by Dwight
Cooley, Manager at the Refuge. Although birds may begin to leave soon,
there is still an excellent selection of birds present. There were 78 total
species (listed below), with the highlight being an immature brown pelican
on the north side of the river near the I-65 crossing. An orange crowned
warbler continues to be seen near the head of the path to the viewing
center.
20 Greater White-fronted Goose
1000 Snow Goose
10 Canada Goose
100 Gadwall
300 American Wigeon
6 American Black Duck
500 Mallard
50 Northern Shoveler
150 Northern Pintail
100 Green-winged Teal
1 Canvasback
6 Redhead
250 Ring-necked Duck
150 Lesser Scaup
30 Bufflehead
1 Common Goldeneye
30 Hooded Merganser
10 Ruddy Duck
40 Pied-billed Grebe
30 Double-crested Cormorant
1 American White Pelican
1 Brown Pelican
20 Great Blue Heron
20 Great Egret
3 Black Vulture
5 Turkey Vulture
3 Northern Harrier
2 Bald Eagle
3 Red-tailed Hawk
2000 American Coot
2000 Sandhill Crane
3 Whooping Crane
50 Killdeer
10 Ring-billed Gull
2 Herring Gull
1 Bonaparte's Gull
50 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
50 Mourning Dove
2 Red-headed Woodpecker
3 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
3 Downy Woodpecker
1 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Pileated Woodpecker
2 Northern Flicker
10 American Kestrel
1 Merlin
1 Eastern Phoebe
20 Blue Jay
40 American Crow
60 Horned Lark
20 Carolina Chickadee
10 Tufted Titmouse
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
5 Carolina Wren
2 Golden-crowned Kinglet
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
30 Eastern Bluebird
50 American Robin
1 Cedar Waxwing
1 Brown Thrasher
20 Northern Mockingbird
30 European Starling
5 American Pipit
1 Orange-crowned Warbler
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
15 White-throated Sparrow
10 Song Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 Savannah Sparrow
3 Eastern Towhee
10 Northern Cardinal
25 Red-winged Blackbird
3 Eastern Meadowlark
10 Common Grackle
6 House Finch
6 American Goldfinch
2 House Sparrow
Gary Lanham
Chattanooga TOS, Hamilton County
Sightings in Morgan County, AL
