I haven't seen either of these things posted here, and tn-birds gets no
love anymore:
- Hurricane IDA brought more birders than storm-driven birds down to
Pickwick Dam in Hardin County today, but highlights included a dark morph
PARASITIC JAEGER, first found by Ruben and Victor Stoll, Rick Shipkowski,
and Andrew Lydeard yesterday (8/30) afternoon. The bird was later relocated
by me and Andrew, and again today (8/31) by several others. It was a new
state bird for me.
Outside of the lone Jaeger (and unless other reports come in) - there was
nothing of note until around 10 AM or so, when a group of more than 40
Common Terns descended, and included 2 adult SOOTY TERNS.
Otherwise, it was a good day of camaraderie and meeting new people - and we
had a reporter from the Memphis area NPR affiliate there all morning, doing
a story on this phenomenon of hurricane birding. She was incredibly nice
and interested, and I'm sure that there will be a link to share with TN
birders soon - and hopefully those in attendance will not embarrass the
rest of ya too much. ;-)
- Around midday, I jumped ship in order to get back to my home county of
Davidson with hopes of finding six SANDERLINGS found earlier this morning
by Mike Smith at Snow Bunting Peninsula, a long overdue new county bird for
me. They indeed were, and all 6 in beautiful crisp juvenile plumage. I had
only a few minutes available, but enough to really enjoy this very common
beach bird, far from any true beach.
Good birding,
Graham Gerdeman
Nashville
