[TN-Bird] Reelfoot Lake CBC - Am. Tree Sparrows galore and Rough-legged Hawks
- From: Scott Somershoe <Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxx>
- To: TN-Birds <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 03:09:02 +0000
I'm sure Mark Greene will post totals of species, etc., but I wanted to share
some birds that we found scouting on Friday and during the Reelfoot CBC
yesterday (14 Dec 13). All birds are Lake Co.
While scouting on Friday, we came across a Short-eared Owl hunting about noon.
The bird was carrying a rat and later hacked up a pellet. I guess it had to
make room for more food. I have a photo of the pellet in the air being ejected
(see link below).
On Friday afternoon, Mike Todd found an adult female light morph Rough-legged
Hawk on Hwy 78 and Hwy 213, which was extremely cooperative. She was present
on count day as well (and luckily in our count area).
On count day, Chris Sloan, Jonathan Carpenter, and I had at least 11 American
Tree Sparrows. We had 3 at the old Airpark Inn, six were on the road on the
north side of the Phillippy Unit of Black Bayou Refuge (a traditional place for
them), I had one on Hwy 78 by the train tracks by the Phillippy Unit, and one
in Black Bayou Refuge proper. Amazingly, I got decent to poor photos of 8 of
the tree sparrows and saw 9! There were a lot of birds in some places and I
bet we missed several. At one point we were driving slow and flushed a bunch
of sparrows from the shoulder and after a bit, we realized all 3 of us were
looking at different tree sparrows! I was taking photos of one and never saw a
second tree sparrow in the background until I looked through my photos (see
photo at link).
We also found an adult DARK morph Rough-legged Hawk north of the Phillippy
Unit, which was relocated by Ruben Stoll today.
Other notes:
Two Purple Finches were quite a surprise, considering we couldn't recall any
being reported this winter.
2 Least Sandpipers foraging around on ice was interesting
One weird sounding, but normal looking, House Wren was a surprise
One Western Palm Warbler was not completely unexpected (2 total on the count)
Side note: Mark Greene's group had an immature Rough-legged Hawk, totaling 3 on
the count!
Gallery of photos begins here:
http://www.pbase.com/shoeman/image/153796946
Great birding!!
Scott Somershoe
State Ornithologist
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
P.O. Box 40747
Nashville, TN 37204
615-781-6653 (office)
615-781-6654 (fax)
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- » [TN-Bird] Reelfoot Lake CBC - Am. Tree Sparrows galore and Rough-legged Hawks - Scott Somershoe