[TN-Bird] Recent highlights
- From: <birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 22:08:10 -0600
12/14/07 Lauderdale Waterfowl Refuge to Reelfoot Lake area (Lauderdale to Lake
Co)
12/15/07 Reelfoot CBC (Lake & Obion Co)
12/17/07 KY Lake areas of Henry Co
12/14/07
Scouted my way up to Reelfoot for the CBC on Saturday. Started at Lauderdale
Waterfowl Refuge in Lauderdale Co where I ran into Bob Foehring who was also on
his way for the CBC. Highlights here were the geese numbers, though we couldn't
find a Cackling Goose. A nice flock of 3000+ Snow Geese was about 50/50 Snow to
Blue, with a good number of Ross's mixed in. There were at least 1000 Greater
White-fronts in the area, and a sprinkling of Canada Geese.
Definite highlight here was a bird that sure looks good for a dark-morph Ross's
Goose. This bird is controversial, with most resembling them thought to be
hybrids with Snow; California gets most of the sightings, but there are some
photos on the web of birds from TX. This bird 1st caught my attention by how
black it was, with the very neat little white face enclosed in black. It was
the same size as nearby Ross's, and the bill had the straight border and bluish
base of Ross's, and lacked a grin line. The white tertials and coverts
contrasted much more with the black plumage than the multitude of nearby 'Blue'
Snow Geese. The head was the classic rounded shape of Ross's as well. I was
able to pick this bird up repeatedly by the black plumage, as the geese moved
around in response to several Bald Eagles in the area. I did get several fair
shots of this bird which I have posted. All of the comments I've gotten back so
far have been good for Ross's. It seems that the dark hybrids are usually
separated by intermediate size and bill characters, and less black on the neck
and crown. None of these work for this bird, as they are all good Ross's
features. To my knowledge, this would be the 1st record of this morph for TN.
Jeff has had one in the mid-south, I believe in KY. Records from other states
in the mid-south seem to be extremely scarce as well.
Otherwise we had a slow day, with a couple of nice Krider's Red-tails on the
way north. Around Reelfoot we had a late Barn Swallow (Lake Co), which couldn't
be refound again on the day of the count. Lapland Longspurs were everywhere. We
closed the day out with a Short-eared Owl, which barked at us just to let us
know there was one around.
12/15/07
Rain from start to finish was the theme of the day as Bob Foehring, Joe Guinn
and I struggled along during the CBC. Our best bird of the day was a single
Red-necked Grebe in Obion Co, at practically the same location as the two we
found last year on the CBC. This bird just cruised right by us in the pouring
rain, at times not 100 feet offshore. We also had a Lincoln's Sparrow in Lake
Co, a scarce winter bird. Lapland Longspurs were again plentiful in our limited
time spent in open country. A group of Rusty Blackbirds also was a treat,
feeding in a wet spot in the woods at Keystone.
12/17/07
I spent the morning in the Pace Point area. I had hoped for the Red-necked
Grebe again from my last trip up here, but no luck. An immature Red-throated
Loon off Rocky Point was my best look of the season so far at one of these
ghosts. It was a little far out for any kind of a shot, but it gave nice views
in fairly calm water in-between long dives. There were about 100 Common Loons
in the area that I saw, but no Pacific. Common Goldeneye numbers are definitely
up from my last trip, but no Common Mergansers yet as I had hoped. Guess we
need just a little more cold weather up north to get these hardy guys down.
Four Ross's Geese feeding in a corn stubble field were the only geese on the
day other than Canada.
Only other bird of note was a 1st-cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull which came in
and splashed around at Pace Point while I was there. The lake is way up again,
with the water at Pace Point back up in the bushes again. A group of Purple
Finches overhead was the passerine highlight of the day.
I have placed a few shots of the dark-morph Ross's, Red-necked Grebe swimming
by in the rain, and a couple of shots of the Lesser Black-backed from Pace
Point in my winter 2007 gallery. The gallery can be accessed here:
http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/winter_20072008&page=3 ,or the 1st of the new shots
starts here: http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/image/90426578
Be glad to hear any comments anyone might have on the Goose. My only experience
with dark-morph Ross's is one bird from the Salton Sea a couple of years ago.
Good Birding!!
Mike Todd
McKenzie, TN
birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.pbase.com/mctodd
=================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
_____________________________________________________________
Other related posts:
- » [TN-Bird] Recent highlights
