In NW Tennessee, there is no need to visit any WMA.s or refuges in the fall
because there is little to no habitat for any water birds. Places like White
Lake Refuge in Dyer County and Black Bayou Refuge in Lake County were great
back in the 90's and early 2000's but now are just basically farms.
Go back and look and the numbers and species of birds that could be found at
White Lake Refuge just a few years ago - White Ibis, Tricolored Heron,
Black-crowned Night-Heron, all the regular herons and egrets, plus numerous
shorebirds - all the regular shorebirds plus both species of Godwits, American
Avocets, Phalaropes, etc. could be found there. But no more - now there are
only dry fields - corn, soybeans, dry pastures, etc. as they don't start
pumping water in there until its too late for any of the migrants other than
waterfowl. If they would manage for waders, rails, and shorebirds the entire
year, waterfowl also benefit - and not just migratory waterfowl but breeding
waterfowl -Mallards, Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, and Blue-winged Teal could
be found breeding there when there was adequate habitat.
Black Bayou Refuge in Lake County just a few years ago was the best habitat in
the state for breeding King Rails now there is no regular spot for this species
anywhere in the state. The Goose Pond area at Black Bayou was managed for
waders & shorebirds and all the regularly occurring species plus many rarities
could be found there during fall migration. Now the majority of the main unit
of the Black Bayou Refuge has grown up into woods and the remainder is
cropland. Nothing wrong with woods and I'm all for saving forests but valuable
habitat for rails, shorebirds, and waders has been overlooked in favor of woods
in an area where there used to be both. Naturally occurring shorebird habitat
on private lands can be found in NW TN in the spring due to rainfall but not so
much in the fall after all the areas have been cultivated and sown with crops.
There is a desperate need in NW TN for areas to be managed for waders, rails,
and shorebirds. There is more acreage of public land - refuges and WMA's - in
NW TN now than ever before, yet there is less managed moist soil habitat and
mudflats than ever before. I think that there could be a balance between crops,
forests, grasslands, and wet areas on this areas and the recent past shows that
when the habitat is there, the birds will come because they need that habitat
and a beneficial side aspect is that that waterfowl, the main target of many
managed areas, benefit greatly as well by breeding and raising young in these
areas.
Good birding!
Mark GreeneTrenton, TN
