Nov -4-5, 2006 Mississippi River, Ensley Bottoms, Shelby Co. TN Tunica Co. MS There was very little movement on the river early Saturday, with one Cooper's and a couple of high flying Harriers and the resident Red-tails. At Ensley Pits, I had 17 Red-tailed Hawks in view at one time plus, 4 Kestrel and a Cooper's. Among the Red-tailed Hawks, besides adult and many immature eastern birds, I came across a single immature Krider's, an adult rufous morph, and a couple of light western type. A stop at Robco Lake on the way to Tunica produced one, 2nd year Bald Eagle over the lake. In Tunica Co, Saturday many old friends were found in their regular winter haunts; the solid dark Harlan's has taken up its post for the 5th year and another dark morph western has filled an area once held for 6 years by another dark bird that I called Shy because of its bashful nature. Standing in one place, at the catfish ponds, I had 37 Red-tailed Hawks in one sweep of the area, 3 of those perched in the now famous tree, where as many as 13 R-t Hawks have been seen to perch at one time. Mike Todd and I took photos one day, when 11 were seen in this one small tree that grows within 30 feet of the road. In this varied mix, were Harlan's, dark and light morph western and eastern types, with adult and immature Krider's. I had 2 Cooper's resting in the trees near Hot Thornton Road and 2 Kestrels cruising the fields but no eagles or Merlin. During the day's run, I counted only 9 Loggerhead Shrike, a number that will increase as the winter birds move in after the summer residents now have moved south. On Sunday, I teamed up with Bert Sharpe of Memphis and his brother-in-law, Paul from Nashville for a 2 hour hawk show at the Ensley pits. We located the dark rufous morph Red-tailed adult, such a stunning dark bird, with rufous chest, dark belly and rufous tail. It sat out in the open, facing us for 30 minutes. We also found a heavily marked immature rufous morph and watched a super, adult Krider's soaring with 7 other Red-tailed Hawks over the fields. We also had the immature Krider's, sitting on one of the levees. At one time we had 21 Red-tails in the air with more scattered on the ground. We saw 3 traveling Sharp-shinned hawks and 4 Cooper's plus 4 Kestrels, one adult male and 3 immature Harrier's, hunting low over the fields along with two traveling Harrier's swirling high over head. I can't wait till all the birds hit Tunica! Good Birding !!! Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA 6298 Memphis-Arlington Road Bartlett, TN 38135 =================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 __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________