Saturday, December 20, 2008 Reelfoot Lake Christmas Bird Count Lake & Obion Counties in TN and Hickman Co. in KY The 2008 Reelfoot Lake Christmas Bird Count was held on Saturday, December 20. Seventeen birders in 5-6 parties tallied 119 species, which is a new record for the Reelfoot count! The previous high species count was 117 species in 2006. The weather was colder than what had been forecast and was a big change from the upper 60s we enjoyed on Friday. The temperature was 36 when we started the count early Friday morning and only got up to 44 degrees all day. There was a steady breeze blowing all day but thankfully nothing like it was on Sunday! It was cloudy all day long and about middle of the afternoon a light rain/mist/fog settled in and made for some poor light conditions. Highlights for this years count were many but the best bird of the count was the previously reported Chestnut-collared Longspur first heard by Mike Todd on Friday, then seen by Jeff Wilson. The bird was then seen or heard by several birders on Saturday & Sunday. This is the first Tennessee record for this prairie species and obviously a new Reelfoot CBC bird. Another new species for the count was Laughing Gull. This species was seen by two different parties - Jeff Wilson, Gail King, and Mark Greene had one at Tiptonville Landing flying along the edge of the Mississippi River and Mike Todd & Bob Foehring had one on the south end of Reelfoot Lake. Brief summary of the other highlights: Geese were abundant and were represented by 5 species - Snow, Greater White-fronted, Canada, Ross's, and Cackling. Snows and Greater White-fronted Geese were the most abundant species. We had 15 Ross's Geese mixed in amongst the thousands of Snow & Greater White-fronted Geese and 2 Cackling Geese were found on Donald Rd. amongst the big flocks. 23 species of waterfowl were seen in all - all the regular species were represented and that includes several Greater Scaup. Hap Chambers & Melissa Easley reported the only Northern Bobwhite for the day. A single American White Pelican was seen sleeping out from Champey Pocket on Reelfoot Lake. Raptors were well represented with good numbers of Red-tailed Hawks including a Harlan's seen by Mike Todd & Bob Foehring. A Merlin seen by Jeff Wilson, Mark Greene, and Gail King southwest of Tiptonville was the best raptor find of the day but a quick glimpse of a large falcon that disappeared into the fog before it could be identified late in the day just north of the the Lake Co. prison was very intriguing. The only shorebirds seen besides the normal Killdeer and Wilson's Snipe were 2 Least Sandpipers seen in a flooded field near the levee southwest of Tiptonville by Jeff Wilson, Mark Greene, and Gail King. Jeff also spotted 2 Forster's Terns sitting out on a stump out from Champey Pocket on Reelfoot Lake not 30 seconds after I said we should look for those. Short-eared Owls were once again seen along Van Works Rd. which has been the normal spot now for several years. They were seen by many both Friday evening and Saturday evening. Hap Chambers & Melissa Easley tallied a Barn Owl for our 5th owl species for the count. Thanks to Jeff for going out and getting the only E. Screech-Owl for the count at 11 pm on Saturday night when we thought we had missed it! Loggerhead Shrikes were seen in decent numbers with all 5 parties reporting at least one. Jerry Drewry, Joe Stone, and and Sabin Thompson got the only Red-breasted Nuthatch for the count as well as the only Marsh Wren and Sedge Wrens for the count from Hamilton's on the east side of the lake. House Wrens were reported by several parties. American Pipits were seen in good numbers and were reported by multiple parties. Jerry, Sabin, and Joe also got the only Pine Warbler for the count from the pines north of the Reelfoot Lake NWR office. Mike Todd & Bob Foehring had the only Common Yellowthroat for the count from the grasses around the edge of the lake on the south end. Hap Chambers and Melissa Easley had the only American Tree Sparrows for the count. Leconte's Sparrows were found by two parties - Jeff Wilson, Gail King, and I had one near Tiptonville and Nancy Moore, Brainard Palmer-Ball, Donna Ward, Eddie Huber, and Ken Leggett had 4 near Long Point on the refuge. Gail King had a single Lincoln's Sparrow. As reported earlier Lapland Longspurs were abundant with 7500+ being tallied, easily a high count for this species on the count. Mix in the Horned Larks and the flocks are very impressive indeed! Gail King's sharp eyes alerted Jeff & I to 4 Western Meadowlarks in a field west of the prison. There have also been some seen recently in the Donald Rd. area near where the big groups of Longspurs are being seen. Mike & Bob ahd the only Brewer's Blackbirds for the count. Purple Finches and Pine Siskins were reported by multiple parties buy Jerry, Joe, and Sabin had the only House Finches for the count! As always we had a few misses and a few species that were tallied as count week birds but not seen on count day. Count day misses include Common Loon, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Fish Crow. Count week additions were Fish Crow (by Jeff Wilson on Sunday), and Chipping Sparrow (by Bob Foehring on Friday). Another great Reelfoot Lake CBC. Thanks to all who participated. Participants were Jerry Drewry, Joe Stone, Sabin Thompson, Jeff Wilson, Gail King, Mike Todd, Bob Foehring, Hap Chambers, Melissa Easley, Nancy Moore, Donna Ward, Brainard-Palmer Ball, Eddie Huber, Ken Leggett, Alan Whitted, Tara (from the Reelfoot NWR) and myself. Mark Greene count compiler Trenton, TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. 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