[TN-Bird] Lake County yesterday

  • From: "Mark Greene" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "greenesnake@xxxxxxxxx" for DMARC)
  • To: TN-Birds Bird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 07:46:11 -0700

September 16, 2014
Lake County

Fall was definitely in the air and there has been lots of movement since last 
week when I was in the area. There wasn't much on the MS River at Tiptonville 
Bar or at Bessie Bend. On Proctor City Road, I was walking along a ditch to 
take a picture of a wildflower when a small sparrow flushed from under my feet 
out of some foxtail in a wet area. I knew by the flight that this was an 
Ammodramus sparrow and I watched where the bird landed, retrieved my 
binoculars, and got a couple of quick views of a Nelson's Sparrow! I tried to 
get closer and the bird flushed again into some taller grass and I couldn't 
relocate it. I also had my first Song Sparrow of the season here.

At lunch I went to the Keystone Pocket area of Reelfoot Lake and several 
American White Pelicans were sitting on stumps. I counted 65 in a quick scan 
across the lake. Double-crested Cormorants were everywhere and one group of 
300+ birds came flying and swimming into the cove obviously chasing a school of 
fish. The birds were actively diving and most every bird was coming up with a 
shad in its mouth! While watching the cormorants, a gull flew by and when I got 
on it I noticed it was a first year Laughing Gull! The only ducks I saw were a 
few Blue-winged Teal. I drove north to Champey Pocket and once again 
encountered the cormorant flock. They were still feeding and diving and chasing 
that school of fish. I scanned the lake from here and cormorants were 
everywhere - in the water, in the air, and in the trees. I estimated that there 
were at least 2000 cormorants in the area!

There were also lots of swallows around and many were sitting on the power 
lines in multiple locations. I was able to tally 5 species - N. Rough-winged, 
Tree, Bank, Barn, and Cliff. N. Rough-winged was the most numerous and Bank was 
the least.

There has been a big influx of American Kestrels and Loggerhead Shrikes since 
last week. Kestrels were all over sitting on the power lines and on poles. I 
had 6 shrikes in the northern part of Lake County with 4 in a one mile stretch 
of highway. I had a Cooper's Hawk along Hwy 78 just south of Ridgely.

I had intended to try to get out to Island 13 but didn't have time.

Good birding!

Mark Greene
Trenton, TN
Gibson County

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