10/31/04 KY Lake area Henry & Benton Co. I began the day at Paris Landing, hoping that the fowl weather would put down something of interest. Nothing at all of note in the Paris Landing area, and once again, no Lesser Black-backs. Although, there were a few Herring's and Ringers on the island south of the bridge. I only saw one Common Loon, but a dozen or so Horned Grebe's are now in, my 1st of the season (FOTS). My next stop in an ever-increasing downpour, was the flats at Eagle Creek, off of Bull Durham Rd. This has been my best place for shorebirds, and usually several gulls and Forster's Terns as well. Shorebirds were pretty slim, only a single Pectoral and Snipe among the horde of Killdeer running around. Unusually for here, no ducks or egrets. Gulls were a different story though. There was a blanket of white covering a couple of sections of the flats. A quick glance through the pouring rain with binoculars revealed a lot of dark backs and black hoods. The weather had just introduced me to by far more Franklin's than I have ever seen (up to this point of the day anyway). I tried to count the birds, but in places the birds were packed so tight that I knew I was missing some. With a nice group that settled in as I watched, my final count here on Franklin's was 518. The birds were fairly evenly split between 1st-years and adult-types, with seemingly a little heavier with adults. A couple of birds still sported the extensive brown hind-necks from juvenile plumage. Also, several of the adults had the nice rosy flush that they are known for. I sat here for over an hour, enjoying the birds with a window-mount so as to only get about half-soaked. A few Bonaparte's were in, as well as the ever-present Forster's Terns. Farther up Eagle Creek, I found another 75+ Franklin's riding the weather out on the water. A quick trip to Port Rd didn't produce a single loon, but did get my 1st of 3 nice flocks of Snow Geese (FOTS) overhead. This flock of Snows/Blues was 110 strong, and had a couple of half-pint Ross's in the mix, my 1st and only ones of the day. Later in the day I had flocks of 150 and 75 Snow/Blue Geese. Britton Ford produced the biggest surprise. Very few ducks around yet, but the bay hasn't been closed to boat traffic yet. The number of Canada Geese is growing, still no Cackling Geese-types yet though. I did have 4 Greater White-fronted Geese come into the fields here though, also my FOTS. The surprise came when I saw a dense flock of dark birds a long way out in the water. While trying to figure them out, a few of them got up and flew a short distance, revealing themselves to be more Franklin's. This huge flock eventually got up en masse and moved around a couple of times, truly a memorable sight. I was finally able to get a conservative count on these birds, and came up to 1000+, counting by 50's. The birds were packed so tight on the water that it was a real challenge trying to get a number. This made at least 1600 Franklin's in this area. I had talked to Jeff earlier from Eagle Creek to see if he had Franklin's piled-up on the Mississippi as well, and he did. No telling how many birds came through today. While this is nowhere near the 3000+ Jeff had on the Mississippi last November, it is amazing considering that until last year, the high count was considerably less than 100. The other areas I visited weren't too productive, as there was little in the way of flats on the Big Sandy or Lick Creek either. I had a few Dunlin at both locations. Pace Point was good for a juvenile Lesser Black-back, along with a Dunlin, Western Sandpiper, and Greater Yellowlegs. Very few transient-type passerines were seen, although Tree Swallows are still around in numbers. The only warbler other than Yellow-rumped was Common Yellowthroat. Otherwise just winter birds, but did pish up one more Lincoln's Sparrow. I didn't spend any time working sparrows because it was so wet. I have added a few shots of the Franklin's, and some much better images of the juvenile Lesser Black-back to my website at: http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/ky_lake_103104 Good birding!! Mike Todd McKenzie, TN Carroll Co. birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx www.pbase.com/mctodd =================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. 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