[TN-Bird] Percy Priest gull numbers continue
- From: "Scott Somershoe" <Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxx>
- To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:09:38 -0600
Ed Schneider and I birded around Percy Priest Lake this afternoon. No sign of
the Eared Grebe (apparently it was seen this morning) or scoters. Not much
seen from Anderson Rd or Hamilton Creek other than 3 completely white rock
pigeon sized pigeons flying around. Maybe there was a wedding today. Really
odd.
We found about 2000 Bonaparte's Gulls at the dam along with ~1250 Ring-billed
Gulls. 35 Great Blue Herons were flying around at once by the rookery at
Nashville Shores. Not sure what was going on over there, but they settled in
on the nests.
I finished the day at Cook Public Area try see about gull numbers. I had at
least 173 Common Loons, many up close. There were only ~10,000 gulls seen
until 5 pm when they showed up in mass from out of nowhere. There are 3
roosting areas around Cook, but none very close. In the end, there was a flock
of about 17,000 ring-billeds out in the middle of the lake. These birds got up
all at once and it was mind boggling. The direction they were flying at once
completely filled my binoc field of view (7-8 times over) from at least a half
mile. A separate group of ~10,000 gulls flew by being led by about 3500
Bonaparte's Gulls. To the south of Cook and closer to Seven Points Rec Area
campground there was a roost of a few thousand ring-billeds as well.
In the end, I decided on 3500 Bonaparte's, 23,000 Ring-billed Gulls, 1 imm
Herring Gull. This is probably a little conservative. I don't know that all
the birds we saw at the dam came down to these roosts, but I saw groups coming
south and think they did.
The ducks came to roost close to Seven Points. I tallied at least 86
Bufflehead, 19 Common Goldeneye, 5 Hooded Mergansers, and 49 Horned Grebes.
Small groups of bufflehead and goldeneye coming in from all directions until it
was dark for me to make a species ID.
At dusk, I whistled for a screech owl in a reliable spot and within a minute I
had a taker. Nice way to end a gull-filled day.
Great birding!
Scott Somershoe
State Ornithologist
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
P.O. Box 40747
Nashville, TN 37204
615-781-6653 (o)
601-868-0101 (cell)
615-781-6654 (fax)
"Keeping the rubber side down." -SGS
=================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
Clarksville, TN
__________________________________________________________
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
_____________________________________________________________
Other related posts:
- » [TN-Bird] Percy Priest gull numbers continue - Scott Somershoe
