Monday, December 21, 2015Reelfoot Lake area, Lake and Obion Counties in NW TN
and Fulton County in SW KY.
I spent most of the day in the area where we had the Reelfoot Lake Christmas
Bird Count on Saturday, December 19 following up on some of the rarities and
trying to locate some that possibly "got away" or that we missed on count day.
Brainard Palmer-Ball had sent me a note Saturday night after I posted the count
highlights to TN-Bird saying that he had a possible Blue-gray Gnatcatcher on
Saturday on the Long Point Unit of the Reelfoot Lake NWR in Fulton County, KY.
He had only heard the bird and was pretty sure of what he had heard but didn't
want to call the bird without seeing it. When he had to his car to retrieve a
recording, the flock flew across a slough and got further away. Today I visited
the area and went to the spot and I made some "psssssss" vocalizations, trying
to somewhat imitate the calls of a BGGN. I thought I heard a bird respond but
it was windy so I kept making the sounds. Within 2 minutes a Blue-gray
Gnatcatcher came in to investigate! So add another species to the Reelfoot Lake
CBC count total - 124 species total!
Also, another birder that we had ran into on Saturday that was in the area told
me today that he had a Palm Warbler in the count circle in TN so that brings
the total for the TN portion of the count up to 121 species! Incredible!
Other notes...two species that we missed were seen today. I found a single
Common Loon at Champey Pocket on Reelfoot Lake. Ruben & Victor Stoll and I had
gone there on Saturday and scoped but we left when some hunters started leaving
and using the boat ramp there. The bird swam out of the far north corner of
that area today. It may have been there Saturday too, who knows? I also had 2
Least Sandpipers on Pigeon Roost Rd in northern Lake County.
I tried to locate the possible McCown's Longspur that Chris Sloan and I heard
and that Chris briefly saw on Saturday on Upper Wynnburg Road but I had no
luck. There were a few laps in the area but the wind was blowing like crazy and
not much was flying around. Brainard had also possibly seen a first-winter
Lesser Black-backed Gull late Saturday evening flying toward the lake roost but
he didn't get a good look at the bird. I did not see one today. I did have one
a couple of weeks ago in Fulton County, KY, just north of the state line so who
knows?
Finally, I forgot to mention that Victor Stoll and Bob Foehring had heard a
bird at dusk on Van Works Road in Lake County Friday evening that they thought
sounded like a possible Sprague's Pipit! We visited the area on Saturday and I
went there again today but no luck. Another one that possibly got away...
I looked briefly for the Common Ground-Dove and the Red-throated Loon and both
could still be around but again the wind was a hindrance. No small birds
sitting on the wires today and the water on the lake was white capping in most
places making distant viewing especially difficult. I also tried for the Least
Flycatcher in KY again today but had no luck there either.
So we ended with 124 and have 2 more count week birds plus another three
species - Lesser Black-backed Gull, Sprague's Pipit, and McCown's Longspur,
that were possibly in the area. That's 129 species! Maybe 130 is possible one
day - who knows?
I had a Harris's Sparrow today south of Ridgely (and not in the count circle)
in Lake County. It was on Tank Road just south of the city limits. There is a
large flock of House Sparrows in this area and the birds were along the road
when I located the Harris's among them late this afternoon. The birds were
flying up to the power lines, down to the road, out in a cut grain sorghum
(milo) field and being very active and restless. Some split off and flew down
to a church on the south end of the road and some flew out into the field when
I lost the Harris's Sparrow. The bird appeared to be an immature with a mainly
white throat and just a little black on the face and crown.
Good birding!
Mark GreeneTrenton, TN
