June 4-5, 2005 West TN Sorry for delay but PBASE is getting where you can't upload photos in a timely manner. Well, the 2 or 3 weeks of June are here when the migrants are mostly gone and you have to hunt around for the stragglers or those mixed up birds that are going to show up just to boggle a few minds. This past weekend, I started looking at the river early Saturday morning, at last it has fallen and sandbars are available for birds to use but a little late for the unusual terns or shorebirds that are treats in the late spring. At least, Least Terns have a few places to nest rather than the fields they had started to use because of high water. These dry land nests are seldom successful. I met a couple at Ensley to show them a few of the area specialties, they are into photography and new to birding. The Painted Bunting put on a great show and we got to see what are evidently the only pair of Western Kingbirds nesting this year at Ensley. We also had a lot of Black-necked Stilts with fresh out of the nest young running around. There were 164 White-rumped, 8 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 3 Least Sandpipers and lots of Killdeer but that was it Wind Bird wise. We went over to President's Island to get a few shots of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher's nest, the female was setting the eggs but unfortunately the male looks like he has had a run in with something as his long tail feathers have broken off. After they left, I headed north toward Reelfoot, stopping time and time again at dried up spots that just weeks before held water and birds. Believe me it is dry everywhere. The Mississippi's last rise fell just short of flooding much habitat. The only other shorebirds for the weekend were at a hole off the Great River Road in Dyer Co, that held 6 White-rumped, 1 Semipalmated Plover and Killdeer. The Ibis Hole in Lake Co, had 23 White-rumped and a single Semipalmated Sandpiper. An unusual and stunningly different male Indigo was found Saturday afternoon at White Lake Refuge in Dyer Co. The bird was bright blue but sported a pure white throat patch, a single white wing bar on one side and a solid white tail. I returned again to find it on Sunday but could only get two very distant shots. Unexpected finds were a pair of American Wigeon, we had seen the male a couple of weeks ago and he can fly quite well but this female has a busted right wing. Even more unexpected were 3 full dress male Ring-necked Ducks!! A group of 13 American White Pelicans were seen there on Sunday. I lucked up on a docile Gray Rat Snake crossing the road at White-Lake. I was able to pick it up by the body and get it to relax then stretched out between two marks and measured its length at 68 inches. At 10 AM Sunday, I found a Barred Owl sunning out in the middle of the road on Tenn-Mo Levee and an hour or so later a Black Vulture standing in the middle of the road at Black Bayou with out stretched wings looking like he was directing traffic. I could find very few Grasshopper Sparrows even in places that they usually are fairly regular but the wind may have been a factor. That did not stop the Dickcissels from singing everywhere in good numbers. I saw Osprey at 3 locations along the river and 4 immature Bald Eagles on the river at Heloise in Dyer Co.. There are some small rookeries of egrets and herons in Dyer and Lake Counties but nothing the size or the diversity of years past. This has been so since the drought years. I saw only 9 Little Blue Herons over the weekend but there were quite a few Snowy Egrets at White Lake.. Great Egrets are nesting in big numbers in Dyer and Lake Counties with a few Snowy and Little Blue crossing the river to feed young in Missouri. The rookeries that were active last year out from Morris Road in Lauderdale Co, and off 79 Highway in Lake County did not develop this year. I got a few photos of most of the birds mentioned above and have posted them at the following site. Sorry for the poor shots of the blue and white Indigo but maybe next time...........Try: _http://www.pbase.com/ol_coot/june_shots_ (http://www.pbase.com/ol_coot/june_shots) Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL'COOT / TLBA Bartlett, TN =================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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================