10/09/04 Pace Point to Paris Landing Henry/Benton Co. I covered most of my usual haunts today, including Britton Ford a couple of times in case the Curlew Sand returned, with no luck. Who can complain though about a great day to be out! Britton Ford was dead today, with nothing of consequence. I had high hopes for the flats at the mouth of the Big Sandy. I started off at the north side of the flats, at Manor Rd. Lots of Killdeer, Pectorals and Least here, and a distant Stilt Sandpiper gave me a brief spark until I saw it fly, at which time it shot my only Curlew Sand prospect down. Also here were a couple of Dunlin (my 1st of the fall), and several Lesser Yellowlegs and Wilson's Snipe. There was a big gull concentration as normal, but only Ring-bills today, no Franklin's. Working the same spit the gulls were on were 3 Sanderlings. Oddly, this is the 3rd time over the last month that I've had 3 Sanderlings in the big Sandy/Paris Landing area. No ducks were here at all compared to hundreds last week, I only had Gadwall and Mallard on the day, not even any Teal. A single Lesser Scaup is hanging out at Britton Ford. While hear I heard a couple of warbler chips, and soon found myself in the biggest flock of warblers I've had this year. There were easily 50 warblers in a small area, of 13 species. Most numerous were Yellow-rumps and Black-throated Green, with at least a dozen each. I had 3 Black-throated Green's in the same bush! Tennessee's were also numerous, as were Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided and Magnolia. Also present were N. Parula, Nashville, Yellow-throated, Palm, Bay-breasted, Black-and-white, and Common Yellowthroat in the undergrowth. Later in the day I would add Golden-winged (my 1st of the year) and Pine for 15 species on the day. A couple of other times I had nice flocks of warblers as well. After leaving here I decided to go to Big Sandy, and walk in levee to cover the south side of the flats. This is a fair walk (the gate was down, but as there is a decrepit "No motorized vehicles, etc." sign up, I walked) but worth it. Warblers kept me company on the way in. When I reached the flats, I heard the melancholy call of a Black-bellied Plover, and found the bird feeding in a pool that I couldn't see from Manor Rd. Also here was a Semi Plover, and a lot more Least and Pec's than I had thought was here. About the time I started getting a few birds, all hell broke loose and birds scattered everywhere. It looked like the work of a Peregrine, but I didn't see the bird. On the way I out I spotted the Peregrine perched on a wooded stake on the mudflat. I took a few photos of the bird, and showed it to a hunter who was back in the area working on a duck blind. He was pretty excited, as he had heard of a Peregrine, but hadn't seen one. I left Big Sandy and headed to Pace Point. The flats at Lick Creek look good, but nothing but Ring-bills and Killdeer. Pace Point was dead, with a few Ring-bills loafing well out on the Point. A couple of stops and pishing for sparrows etc. revealed several Song Sparrows, and 3 Lincoln's popped up into the same bush. I didn't spend any time walking for sparrows. The flats at Eagle Creek are still productive, as in addition to the Killdeer and Least and Pec's that are around, there were also 2 Greater Yellowlegs and a Semipalmated Sandpiper, my 12th and final shorebird of the day. Forster's Terns are piled up in here big time, but no Common's among them. Paris Landing was my final stop, and from the bridge a quick scan revealed that there are now at least 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the area; the 2 adults, a 2nd-winter, and now a juvenile/1st-winter. I saw the juvenile standing with a couple of juvenile Herring's and thought Lesser Black-back and then the bird flapped and flew around a little confirming it. Nothing else on the island though but Herring's and Ring-billed Gulls (or so I thought). I made a quick run into Paris Landing State Park (PLSP) to glance at the island from that angle, and one of the 1st birds I saw was the adult Laughing Gull sleeping. This makes twice now that I have missed that bird from the bridge and picked it up from PLSP. I have added a temporary gallery to my website with a few photos from today. I have posted a shot of a Lincoln's Sparrow, and some of the Peregrine, and also some general ID-type shots of the juvenile Lesser Black-back. These are at: http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/temp Good birding!! Mike Todd McKenzie, TN Carroll Co. birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx www.pbase.com/mctodd =================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. 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