Jan. 9, 2005 Ensley Bottoms Robco Lake Shelby Co. TN. Wapanocca Area Crittenden Co. AR A single Surf Scoter was found among the huge flock of Lesser and Greater Scaup at TVA Lake. After the Mississippi River fell 13 feet over 18 days it has turned its head and will claim all that back and more in less than a week. Because of this, more gulls are using the lake and backwater areas but only Ring-billed, Herring and Bonaparte's could be found. At the "Pits" water covers most flats and the back areas are a quagmire, I was only able to find Least Sandpipers and Killdeer shorebird wise plus Pipits, Laps, Horned Larks and Brewer's Blackbirds. At Robco Lake, I found a single Black Scoter in an crowd of Scaup, Canvasback, Bufflehead, Gadwall, Mallard, No. Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Hooded Mergs and Ruddy Ducks. The single Forster's Tern is still present after the ice and snow and might make it through the winter, unusual in Memphis. I went up around Wapanocca NWR and found ducks and geese spread all around with 13 Vesper Sparrows, 16 Western Meadowlarks in 2 groups, 49 No. Flickers feeding on the ground in one spot at the observation deck and many more scattered about (the recent rains have the ants busy remodeling their mounds and the flickers are taking advantage). On Bob White Road and the road behind the refuge, I found 2 different adult Krider's Red-tailed Hawks. This is the first year I can recall where adults out number the immature. In fact, over the weekend, I found 7 adult Krider's and no immature birds. I also ran up I-55, to just south of Blytheville, where a few weeks back, I sped past a hawk that I believe was a Ferruginous Hawk, low and back off the highway, I was in the passing lane and could not get turned around. I got off and looked for the bird then but the area did not have good access. After finding the Ferruginous in Mississippi, I thought I'd give it a try. No bird found but anyone traveling I-55 might keep a look out for a light morph, immature Ferruginous Hawk in that area. You never know............. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL'COOT / TLBA Bartlett, TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================