I decided to check the Bells Bend area for shorebirds today. The
sora/cinnamon teal "pond" is very low - back to its usually marshy self. I
found several FOS birds - 5 Greater Yellowlegs were foraging with a lone
Lesser Yellowlegs, and had personal FOS Barn Swallows. No ducks of any
kind. The sod farm itself had no shorebirds but Killdeer, and there were
typically numerous Meadowlarks.
On the road, I had Field, Song, Savannah, White-throated, and White-crowned
Sparrow - but no Harris's. I also looked and listened carefully for a
recently reported Tree Sparrow and Eurasian Collared Dove, but found
neither.
I then hiked back to the back of Bells Bend to the observation deck pond
area. It is still holding quite a bit of water and currently better
dabbling duck habitat than shorebird, but there were none of either. Only 4
Canada Geese. I think that if we have a few days of no rain, this area
could get great shorebirds. It seems promising for maybe attracting a
Bittern as well. The only problem is that it is around a mile walk from the
nature center. If folks do check the area, it would be helpful for others
to report here on habitat conditions.
Graham Gerdeman
Nashville
