Jan. 1, 2005 Tunica Co. MS 20 miles south of Memphis I went back to Tunica to get better photos and the Ferruginous Hawk was very cooperative and put on a show for all that came down. On the way down in the morning, I stopped to glean through the huge flocks of gulls that are in the area and pulled an immature Lesser Black-backed Gull out of one flock bathing at a rest stop. I'm sure there are other good species to be discovered like the Slaty-backed Gull down there some years back. At Buck Road, I met back up with Steve Matherly from Houston we had watched Short-eared Owls together the night before and we looked for the hawk. I finally noticed a bird coming low over the field but straight out of the rising sun. The bird swooped up and landed on the irrigation system and there in its glory sat maybe the bird of the year. We were shortly joined by Q.B. Gray and over the day I know of over a dozen birders that enjoyed perched and spectacular flying antics put on by this bird. We birdied a tight circle around the area and through the day had thousands of Laps, Horned Larks and Pipits at close range, 51 Sandhill Cranes, Eastern, Light and dark Morph Western Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Krider's, and a Harlan's, Plus Western Meadowlarks at 40 feet in the scope. Joe Guinn and I had 28 Harrier's in view at one time late in the day with 25 of those strewn about us sitting on the ground. I think they had given up hunting as the Ferruginous regularly takes their catches from them. In a drizzle at dark time, I had 3 Short-eared Owls playing and barking. We had a huge gaggles of geese everywhere and a 5 species flock off Hambrick Road, with Lesser and Cackling Geese photographed. Q.B. showed us where this flock with the Canada and Cackling Geese were and he has a knock out photo of same that made me delete mine. Surely if all this is not worth a visit then something in that list would be;o) The Ferruginous is ranging over a wide area but always comes back to perch low on the east side of Buck Island Road near the center pump irrigation system. From 61 South in Tunica take 304 east and then take the first gravel road on the right (Buck Island). From 304 to Hambrick is the best area to look for the bird and this general area with in a very few miles will get all the other species mentioned. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL'COOT / TLBA Bartlett, TN =================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. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================