11/06/02 Big Sandy Area- Pace Point Britton Ford Area Paris Landing Area Port Rd./Trailer Park Rd. Henry/Benton Co. After talking to Jeff over the weekend & seeing what they had, I couldn't wait to get back up there. A daylight to dark day of birding today produced very little that hadn't already been seen, but that's not too bad in this case. As Jeff said, Loon numbers have skyrocketed since the end of last week. Late this afternoon from Port Rd. Overlook I had 260 Loons on the surface, and shortly later I had an additional 50 from Trailer Park Rd. There are at least 3 Pacific Loons in the area now. Jeff & company had an adult & immature over the weekend, and I had 2 different adult birds. I had my 1st Pacific sighting today from the Budweiser Beach area on the refuge, and late this afternoon I had this same loon (same plumage & location anyway) from Trailer Park Rd. I also had an adult Pacific in the mass of loons out from Port Rd. I arrived at Port Rd. at about 3:30, left there and had just enough light left at Trailer Park when I got there to ID the birds, including the Pacific. I hoped for, but didn't see, a Red-throated this afternoon when the water smoothed out some. Ducks are still trading around, for example, I didn't have any Canvasbacks at Britton Ford where they were this weekend, but did have a few Redheads in with the Ruddies instead. Another return bird from last year is a male Mallard x American Black Duck hybrid that I saw off and on last winter at Britton Ford. He's back again. The Hooded Merganser flock behind the maintenance sheds on the refuge has grown to over 250 birds (although when I left something had run ALL of them out), with a couple of Ring-necked Ducks and a single Red-breasted Merganser mixed in. I had single Red-breasted (all females) in 3 different locations today so they are starting to trickle in. It took awhile but I was finally able to coax a female/imm. Surf Scoter out of the distant mass of divers in the Pace Point area. The Surf was hanging around with a group of Scaup, as was the apparently adult female (I couldn't see any light on the belly when she would leap before diving) Black Scoter out from Paris Landing State Park later in the day. This was a much more satisfying look than what I had last month of my lifer Black Scoter at Britton Ford. The bird was less than 100 yards off of the small fishing platform at the State Park. (Definitely time to get another camera!) Otherwise Paris Landing was pretty slow, with an adult Bald Eagle sitting on the island favored by the Gulls. Shorebirds on the day included 3 Pectoral Sandpipers at Lick Creek, and Dunlin flocks at 4 locations (the largest being 150+ on the flats at the mouth of the Big Sandy), Greater Yellowlegs at Britton Ford (4) and calling birds heard at Big Sandy and Trailer Park Rd. Wilson's Snipe were noted a couple of places as well. I had an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull off and on all day in the area, with it roosting right out from Port Rd. The bird I had today appeared to be the lighter of the two Jeff had (definitely graellsii). Forster's Terns are still hanging in there. Hopefully as the Bonaparte's numbers continue to grow, we can get a Little or Black-headed this winter. A couple of other surprises today were 2 Tennessee Warblers feeding among the rocks and weeds on the shoreline where we park at Pace Point. When I flushed one I was surprised by the little green jewel, and then thought Orange-crowned, but the very high call note gave it away before I got a look at one. Also, at Britton Ford, I got my 1st Lapland Longspurs of the season, working with the Horned Larks and Pipits in the stubble fields there. If anyone is interested and unsure about any locations I mention, email me and I'll get them to you on Topozone. Good birding!!!! Mike Todd McKenzie, TN Carroll Co. mikectodd@xxxxxx =================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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================