December 19, 2015Reelfoot Lake Christmas Bird CountLake & Obion Counties in TN
+ Fulton County, KY
What happens when you combine a fantastic group of birders, near perfect CBC
weather, and a bunch of really good, cooperative birds? I'll tell you what
happens - a new state CBC record! We had an incredible 123 species today on the
Reelfoot Lake CBC! Our count circle includes a little bit of Fulton County, KY
(includes the Long Point Unit of Reelfoot NWR, Lake #9, etc.). Of the 123
species, 120 were found in Tennessee! This shatters our old count record of
118! I always thought that on a really good year that we could break 120 and
today we did!
I'll try to post a full report later but here are the many highlights:
Three (!) new count species:
1. Common Ground-Dove - found by Ruben Stoll, Victor Stoll, and me on the north
end of Candy Kitchen Road.2. Red-throated Loon - found by Michael Todd, Bob
Foehring, and Rick Shipkowski on the lower lake.3. Least Flycatcher - found by
Brainard Palmer-Ball, Eddie Huber, and Donna Ward near the north end of Lake #9
in KY.
In addition to those three incredible finds, we also added the following
highlights:
-22 species of waterfowl!-Northern Bobwhite - we've missed this species many
times in recent years-Great Egret - 9th count record.-Golden Eagle-Lesser
Yellowlegs - 7th count record plus one additional year as a count week bird.-
Merlin - 11th count record.- Peregrine Falcon - 9th count record plus 2
additional years as a count week bird.- Marsh Wren- several Orange-crowned
Warblers- Palm Warbler- Common Yellowthroat- American Tree Sparrow- Le Conte's
Sparrow- Western Meadowlark
Other species of note: Ross's Goose, Greater Scaup, Red-breasted Merganser,
American White Pelican, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Barn Owl,
Short-eared Owl, Fish Crow, House Wren, Lapland Longspur, Pine Warbler,
Chipping Sparrow, Brewer's Blackbird, Purple Finch and Pine Siskin.
No big misses! The only birds that I'd consider even minor misses would be
Common Loon (one was seen yesterday so still a count week bird), Least
Sandpiper, and Red-breasted Nuthatch. Chris Sloan and I also heard and Chris
briefly saw what was a probable McCown's Longspur, but unfortunately the looks
and listens were not definitive enough to call the bird. I will try to look for
this bird early next week. It was in a large flock of Lapland Longspurs on
Upper Wynnburg Road.
Participants: Chris Agee, Glen Criswell, Jerry Drewry, Bob Foehring, Mark
Greene, Eddie Huber, Brainard Palmer-Ball, Rick Shipkowski, Ruben Stoll, Victor
Stoll, Joe Stone, Michael Todd, Allan Trently, Alan Troyer, Chloe Walker, Nolan
Walker, and Donna Ward.
A fantastic count - thanks to all who participated!
Good birding!
Mark GreeneTrenton, TN
