2/18/15Henry Co (Big Sandy Unit, Britton Ford, Paris Landing)
I met Barry Spruce this morning at Big Sandy for a little hopeful Golden Eagle
viewing and to see what else was around, in my first trip to the area all
fall/winter! We had 2 Golden Eagles early in the morning perched side by side
near the overlook at Bennett's Creek, one left shortly afterward but the other
didn't budge til after 11 AM. The road to pace is still closed, but Rocky Point
had a few good birds including a Pacific Loon and the first small group of
Common Mergansers on the day (4, and we had 30 in the big bay below the
Overlook later). We went back to the overlook to try and get some Golden Eagle
shots, and though we never saw the 2nd bird again, finally got spend some time
watching the one which had been perched all day finally take to the skies. It
had a prolonged dispute with territorial Red-tailed which we enjoyed. Also had
a typically quick Merlin encounter here. Nothing unusual waterfowl wise, but
always nice having all 3 Mergansers in view here.
Barry had to hit the road, so I headed to Britton Ford and Paris Landing. Lots
of birds at Britton Ford, nothing unusual though. Large number of Canada Geese,
but not a Cackling in the mix surprisingly. A quick check at Paris Landing
produced the expected Lesser Black-backed Gull. I had been scoping from the
picnic area, and decided to take a quick look from the causeway as Ieft. When I
first started scanning from here, I immediately picked up a young Iceland Gull
bathing just off the island! As I was doing some digiscoping to document the
bird, a car happened to pull up and it was Nashville birder Joe Stone who just
happened to be coming by and saw me, so he got to enjoy the bird. Victor Stoll
unfortunately arrived literally 5 minutes after the bird had left and gotten
too far up the Big Sandy to be seen anymore.
I will post a few photos from the day later,
Mike ToddJackson, TNbirder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/mctodd
