[TN-Bird] Eagle Bend Fish Hatchery
- From: Sharon Monett <sbm4him@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: TN-Bird Listserv <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 17:32:49 -0400
I spent a good chunk of the day on Friday, Aug. 9 at the Eagle Bend Fish
Hatchery in Anderson County.
I saw quite a few different shore birds. Unfortunately, I am an extreme
novice when it comes to identifying birds, and shore birds (along with
sparrows) are particularly challenging to me. I just cannot seem to figure
out how to distinguish one from another, even with pictures. I'm more a
bird photographer than a "birder" anyway (at least, I know more about
photography than I do about birds!). I took pictures, but didn't get any
really good ones--except of killdeer.
I'm certain of the killdeer, which there were plenty of, as usual. I'm
also certain that I saw at least three semipalmated plovers. Beyond
that--I'm *fairly* sure that I saw a couple of spotted sandpipers, several
solitarys and maybe a couple of least sandpipers.
If anyone feels so inclined, you can go to my flickr set,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24369838@N07/sets/72157635032397740/ and help
ID what the shore birds are (I didn't include the semipalmated plover or
the killdeer, since I knew those for sure). There are also a couple of
non-shore birds in the set that I don't know the ID for. I spent about two
hours on the Cornell allaboutbirds website, trying to differentiate and ID
the shore birds, before I gave up! Any tips on how to figure out how to ID
these birds for a novice?
Other than the shore birds, one thing of note was that I did NOT see, the
entire time I was there (probably about 5 hours total) a single Great Egret
or Great Blue Heron. However, I saw evidence that something had gotten
ahold of, I believe, a Great Blue Heron. There wasn't much of it left, but
a wing and the legs.
I did see about 4 green herons. Also starlings, pigeons and maybe doves
(can't really tell them apart either, from a distance anyway), Canada
geese--at least 50, a single female Mallard, about 9 or 10 double-crested
cormorants, a belted kingfisher, and a lot fewer swallows than on recent
previous trips.
Sharon Monett
Knoxville, Knox Co.
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