11/2/09 Pickwick Dam area Hardin Co I arrived above the Dam at Pickwick at 07:30 this morning, there were maybe 200 gulls in the area. Within 10 minutes I had a short look at a darker-end 1st-cycle Thayer's Gull. It was on a rail briefly, then made a few passes around the area before disappearing. The adult California Gull was also sitting on the rails, and I had it in view for over an hour, sitting side by side with both Herring and Ring-billed. The big adult Lesser Black-backed, and two 1st-cycle Lesser Black-backs were present, and a single sleeping Franklin's Gull. There was only one gull flying around below the Dam when I went down there. I never saw a Bonaparte's, so settled for a 6 gull day. After getting my fill of gull goodies, I went down to the campground below the Dam and had 5 Brown-headed Nuthatches. I also had 2 in a small stand of pines just below the Inn at Pickwick State Park. Other highlight was a Red-throated Loon out from Bruton Branch. I had 5 Common Loons in the area, and though I searched all morning I couldn't find the Eared Grebes that had been seen over Jeff's last couple of trips. I went back to scan the gulls at about 12:30, and literally had nothing but Herrings and Ringers, not a single one of the goodies was out there, not even a Lesser Black-backed. I couldn't stay for the afternoon show, but definitely seems like early or late is the time to try for these birds. I made a quick trip thru the bottoms, and found very little. Practically all of the fields were in cotton or soybeans, with very little grassy sparrow habitat. I did find one nice little patch of panicum, where a single LeConte's Sparrow flushed from. I will post a few photos later. The only gull I shot was the California, and my distant shots aren't near the quality of Jeff's. I will post one just to post though. I did get some decent shots of the Nuthatches for a change, the ones below the Inn would come down to practically eye-level, and were in smaller trees anyway. The birds over below the Dam always seem to stay up in the tops of the big trees there. Good Birding!! Mike Todd McKenzie, TN birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx www.pbase.com/mctodd =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ 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 ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________