August 5th
On the way back from Reelfoot Lake, I drove the Great River Road through Lake
and Dyer Counties, down to the Lauderdale County line. Virtually all the
shorebird habitat is gone. Tilling is in full swing. Even the killdeer were
scarce. Nearing the Obion River bridge, 500 plus Great Egrets were joined by a
couple of dozen Little Blue Herons and a dozen Snowy Egrets. 23 Least Terns,
one Black Tern and one Caspian Tern were present, along with a few cormorants
and three Pied-billed Grebes. That water is drying out fast. The only other
shorebirds were a handful of Pectoral and Least Sandpipers.
Cheers,
Dick Preston
Munford (Tipton Co.)
From: Kevin A. Calhoon
Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2015 10:09 AM
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ; Harold Sharp ; Ray Zimmerman
Subject: [TN-Bird] Dyer County shorebirds (Buff-breasted Sandpiper). Marion
County Black Terns
I made the long drive to Dyer County and Great River Road on Saturday August 2
to see the shorebirds Mark Greene had been reporting and was not disappointed.
The habitat was still great and there were several hundred shorebirds spread of
the fields and edge of a couple ponds. I did not see the Black-bellied Plover,
but after an hour searching I found the Piping Plover, Wilsons Phalarope and
Sanderlings that Mark had reported the day before plus two BUFF-BREASTED
SANDPIPERS. There may have been other species besides the 13 that I observed
but many were very for out and the heat convection was rough.
On August 3 I found at least 6 Black Terns above Nickajack Dam in Marion
county. They were perched a couple of piles of rocks helping mark the channel.
Kevin Calhoon
Assistant Curator of Forests
Tennessee Aquarium
423-785-4070
