October 2, 2012 Kentucky Lake area Henry (& Benton?) Counties In the cool mist and drizzle on Tuesday morning, we scouted around some of the better birding areas near Kentucky Lake. From Paris Landing State Park, the "island" below the bridge had two Lesser Black-backed Gulls in amongst many Double-crested Cormorants and Ring-billed Gulls. There were quite a few Pied-billed Grebes and Blue-winged Teal around. We had hoped for some warbler action, but saw only a smattering of them and nothing unusual. The Eagle Creek area (as viewed from the end of the road that Hank Williams Jr. lives on) yielded a beautiful flock of 41 American White Pelicans, about the same number of Great Egrets. There were Caspian and Forster's Terns, Pied-billed Grebes, and a handful of Lesser Yellowlegs. The pine trees around the parking area had a few Pine Warblers. It was not really a warbler kind of day. The Britton Ford portion of the TN National Wildlife Refuge had one area with many birds congregated... Canada Geese (we think we saw a Cackling amonst them), Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, a single Northern Shoveler. As we had entered the unit from the Oak Grove Road South side, we thought we saw an Upland Sandpiper which flew up from the edge of a cow field and disappeared in a hollow in the field. We never got a very good look at it, but that was our impression. I wanted to try Pace Point in the Big Sandy unit of the TN NWR, so we drove out there to find the road to Pace Point very treacherous and slick. They had recently graded it and portions of it were wet, bare mud... not the best surface for our old minivan! It was very nice to see that it has been widened, but I hope there is some new gravel put down soon. Against our better judgment, we slipped and slogged through it to find Pace Point empty of all but Great Blue Herons and Double-crested Cormorants. At least the Cormorant numbers were impressive, as there were close to 100 of them. They were skittish and took off in a great flock. Other than that, the Big Sandy unit which is usually so fruitful was rather bare. It was not the kind of day we had expected, as we had been hoping for more migrant songbirds. There was still something nice, though, about seeing a hint of the beginnings of winter birding on Kentucky Lake, which will soon have huge numbers and variety of waterfowl. I don't mind trading in "warbler neck" for squinting into the cold lake-wind for a while. Shawna Ellis Paris TN Henry County * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 2012 FALL MEETING AND SYMPOSIUM AT NASHVILLE October 12-14 The Nashville Chapter of the TOS will host TOS members and all other interested birders to the Fall Meeting and Symposium on October 12-14, 2012. The host hotel is the Baymont Inn, 111 Penn Warren Drive, Brentwood, TN 37027. call 1-615-376-4666 to make a reservation. For more details: http://www.tnbirds.org/downloads/warbleraug12.pdf =================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 -------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan Clemson, SC __________________________________________________________ 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 _____________________________________________________________