[TN-Bird] Gulls,Terns,Shorebirds; Henry Co. 8/28/06

  • From: <birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 21:07:29 -0500

8/28/06
Henry Co (Paris Landing to Big Sandy flats area; but not over to Pace Point 
area)

I spent a few hours this morning checking out close areas at KY Lake. Though 
KY Lake has finally started drawing down, it needs to come down a little 
more to expose any extensive shorebird habitat in the areas I usually cover. 
That being said, the day did produce 10 species of shorebirds, and a very 
nice collection of gulls and terns at Paris Landing.

The island just south of the Paris Landing bridge was my 1st stop. Though 
the island is fairly small now, it was literally covered in gulls and terns. 
Diversity was as follows:

Ring-billed Gull: 200+ of all ages, including some in full-juvenile plumage
Herring Gull: 2 adult-type
Laughing Gull: 3 (2 juveniles and 1 1st-summer/2nd-winter type)
Franklin's Gull: 1 bird in full-juvenile plumage. This is my earliest 
Franklin's (1st in August), and 1st in this plumage. By the time the bulk 
come through over the next couple of months the young birds have pretty-much 
molted into snappy 1st-winter plumage
Caspian Tern: 56 on the island, and at least 20 more flying around the area. 
Many juvenile birds
Forster's Tern: 4
Common Tern: 3
Black Tern: During the 30-minutes or so I watched this area, I had 148 Black 
Terns fly by heading south. There were about 10 resting on the island. This 
coincides well with the large numbers of Black Terns that Jeff had in 
Memphis over the weekend.

I checked a few of my regular spots for shorebirds, including the mouth of 
Little Eagle Creek (just south of Paris Landing), the Eagle Creek flats 
(Bull Durham Rd), and the flats at the mouth of the Big Sandy (Manor Rd). 
The Big Sandy flats are barely out, and there is no shorebird habitat yet at 
Britton Ford. Shorebirds were as follows:

Killdeer: ubiquitous
Semipalmated Plover: 2 at Eagle Creek (adult and juv.)
Greater Yellowlegs: 1 at Little Eagle Creek
Lesser Yellowlegs: 4 at Big Sandy flats
Spotted Sandpiper: several at Eagle and Little Eagle Creeks
Semipalmated Sandpiper: 3 juv. at Eagle Creek
Least Sandpiper: 18 at Eagle Creek
Pectoral Sandpiper: 34 at Eagle Creek, 2 at Big Sandy
Short-billed Dowitcher: 1 juv. at Eagle Creek
Wilson's Snipe: 2 at Eagle Creek

Not much else of note, several Snowy Egrets and Little Blue Herons mixed in 
with the ever-present Great Egrets. I spent a little time looking for 
passerines, but didn't see any obvious southbound migrants. Looking forward 
to the Lake coming down some more, and warbler migration starting in 
earnest.

Good Birding!!

Mike Todd
McKenzie, TN
birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.pbase.com/mctodd





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  • » [TN-Bird] Gulls,Terns,Shorebirds; Henry Co. 8/28/06