[TN-Bird] Weekend Birds - Iceland Gulls - Yes
- From: OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 08:44:52 EST
March 5-6-2005
TN-AR-KY
Near perfect weather with a little warm south wind on Sunday produced a
taste of spring.
Waterfowl: Working from Ensley in Shelby Co.to Reelfoot and ending at
Lauderdale WR in Lauderdale Co, the weekend produced 21 species. A single
Ross's
Goose at Van Works Road in Lake Co, in a small flock of Snows with 2
White-fronted Geese and a single Goldeneye at Mud Lake were on one end of the
collection with huge concentrations of Shoveler, Green-winged Teal and growing
numbers
of Blue-winged Teal and Wood Ducks at the other. At last 4 Canvasback were
found at Lauderdale WR.
High water had Turkeys along the edges of flooded woods at 3 locations and
more Bobwhites were singing than I can recall hearing in a long time.
Pied-billed Grebe have been whooping and making crazy noises for a couple of
weeks as they pair up; Mud Lake sounded like a jungle movie with up to 4 pair
carving out nesting areas. A single Horned Grebe was seen a Champs Pocket
at Reelfoot.
American White Pelicans are scattered on the lake and a few groups were seen
soaring over the Mississippi River. The Osprey have returned to Reelfoot
Lake with 2 seen at Blue Basin and 2 on the lower Lake. I had Bald Eagles on
nests at 4 locations. The Ensley nest has been abandoned this year but a Great
Horned Owl is using an old nest down off the levee and has fuzzy 2 young.
Eagles were seen on the nest at Wapanocca NWR in AR, another on a nest north
of
Tiptonville and also on the nest at Lake 9 in KY. I got some nice head shots
of these regal birds which I'll post later. Harrier numbers are down only
slightly but Red-shouldered Hawks are staging courting flights over their
territories, thus making them appear far more numerous. Cooper's were seen
sneaking
in and out of woodlots at 4 locations. There appears to be an influx of
western type Red-tailed Hawks as I was able to photograph a few over the
weekend.
Shorebirds: At Ensley, I could find nothing but Wilson's Snipe and Killdeer
and the latter were found everywhere on the weekend with small groups of
males doing there stop and go routines at they followed single females around.
Last week I watched a female making a scrape. Greater Yellowlegs were seen only
at Lauderdale Waterfowl Refuge with a total of 8 there along with 38 Lesser
Yellowlegs, 4 Least Sandpipers, 7 Dunlin, 29 Wilson's Snipe and 7 Long-billed
Dowitchers. Three Lesser Yellowlegs were found at Mud Lake in Lake Co, and 2
in Fulton Co, KY where I also had 5 Wilson's Snipe and a single LB Dowitcher
at Lake #9.
Vigils totaling 5 hours over 2 days produced 2 Iceland Gulls, single Lesser
Black-backed and Thayer's Gulls off Van Works Road in Lake Co. Late Saturday
afternoon, after a 2 hour wait, I had the small light Iceland in view for
about 10 minutes and did not see it again till later on Sunday when a large
and
a small Iceland came in and rested in the huge flock of Ring-billed,
Bonaparte's and Herring Gulls. Once the Iceland Gulls settle down in the mix
they are
extremely hard to find due to the lighting and the distance the flock has to
be viewed but at least some of these birds are still around. The pale
Thayer's can fool you until you see its primaries. The Lesser Black-backed
Gull was
found in the afternoon on Saturday and the Thayer's was in and out on both
days. The Herring Gulls are as varied as they can be, with one adult
photographed that was as small or smaller than some of the Ring-billed Gulls.
Courtship flights of both Eurasian Collared-Doves and Mourning Doves were
seen with much strutting, puffing and cooing. I had 4 Short-eared Owls and a
calling pair of Great Horned Owls, all in view at one time Saturday evening in
Obion Co. Fish Crows call continually at the daytime gull roost off Van Works
Road.
A big surprise was found at Wapanocca NWR in AR, where I had a Black-and
-white Warbler in a small mixed feeding group. Western Meadowlark flocks are
growing with two groups of over a dozen birds each found near Wapanocca and I
counted 11 birds off Van Works Road. They are plowing the corn stubble at this
location and the birds have moved to the west of their regular field.
LeConte's Sparrows were walked up at Bogota in Dyer Co. and Black Bayou in
Lake Co.
Vesper Sparrows were still using the road north of the Bogota Refuge but not
as many as we had a few weeks back.
The weekend air reeked of spring and things to come!
Good Birding!!!
Jeff R. Wilson
OL'COOT / TLBA
Bartlett, TN
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