Duck River TN NWR
May 10, 5:00-6:30 pm
While birding at the Duck River unit of the TN NWR yesterday, my husband
and I saw a large number of Yellow-billed Cuckoos feeding on the ground in
the roadway. There were five in simultaneous view in just one short section
of road. We wondered why, and then noticed that there were thousands of
small dark caterpillars in the road. There were so many caterpillars that
there were several in each square foot. This proliferation of caterpillars
and cuckoos feeding upon them continued as we went down the road. We saw 10
individual cuckoos, and fruitlessly checked them all in search of
a Black-billed. We have never observed anything like this with so many
thousands of caterpillars.
Near the entrance to the Blue Goose Loop, we saw a flock of about 20
Bobolinks in one small area on the left near a ditch which held some water.
We counted 14 males, which were singing and displaying.
Singing Dickcissels, Red-winged Blackbirds and Indigo Buntings were very
abundant.
Shawna Ellis
Paris, Henry County
