Yesterday (5-2-15), Dad, Nolan, and I spent the day birding West TN. We
started in the Reelfoot area, then worked our way down to Memphis, and finished
at Duck River. Below are the highlights.
Reelfoot area:
Black Bayou WMA--Wheelchair Hunting area...One vocal Sora and several adult
Little Blue Herons.Reelfoot WMA (frustratingly on the KY side!)...Loads of
Dickcissels and several Bobolinks enjoying the purple vetch.Robinson Bayou
Road...Decent shorebird habitat in some areas, producing Lesser Yellowlegs,
Black-necked Stilts, and around 100 Pectoral Sandpipers.
Memphis:
President's Island...4 Western Kingbirds, which was a lifer for us.Ensley
Bottoms ("The Pits")...Great shorebirding! All three peeps (only one Western in
alternate plumage); two White-rumped Sandpipers; several Long-billed Dowitchers
and a few sleeping dowitchers we couldn't ID; Stilt, Pectoral, Solitary, and
Spotted Sandpipers; hundreds of yellowlegs (chiefly Lesser); several
Black-necked Stilts; around twenty Wilson's Phalaropes; Killdeer and two
Semipalmated Plovers. There were two pectoral-sized shorebirds together with
the color and pattern of a basic-plumaged Dunlin, but they obviously lacked the
de-curved bill. We also saw no orange at the base, so we're thinking possibly
Baird's Sandpipers(?).
TN NWR--Duck River Unit:
Great shorebird habitat all around the refuge. Pool 2...LOTS of shorebirds,
including six (Western) Willets; one Black-necked Stilt; many yellows (again,
mostly Lesser); four Semipalmated Plovers; one Wilson's Snipe; and Solitary and
Pectoral Sandpipers. One vocal Willow Flycatcher.Blue Goose Loop...Three Soras
flushed from the weeds while we walked. Even more yellowlegs and Solitary and
Spotted Sandpipers.Five Marsh Wrens were heard singing in several areas. All
swallows were present.
Chloe WalkerMurfreesboro, TNwww.chloesbirdingblog.blogspot.com
