[TN-Bird] Weekend Ramblings - TN-AR-MS
- From: OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx
- To: missbird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, ARBIRD-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 09:45:06 EDT
March 10-11, 2007
Shelby Co. TN
Crittenden Co. AR
DeSoto, Tunica Co. MS
Just running the roads to witness the ever changing conditions and birds as
we are on the cusp of the seasons. I found Western Meadowlarks in all three
states at 6 locations. The birds at Bob White Road and Highway 50 in AR fed
along the roadside and allowed a few photos of their distinctive plumages and
tail patterns. Only a dozen Lapland Longspurs were left on Bob White Road, AR
while only two could be detected in a flock of Horned Larks in Tunica Co, MS.
More Brewer's Blackbirds were seen in the drying fields, lack of rain
concentrated this shiny species. There were more fishermen and boats at
Horseshoe
Lake in AR than birds. The Red-throated Loon, Canvasback and Redhead Ducks
evidently did not linger.
I located 5 occupied Red-tailed Hawk nests and had displaying Red-shouldered
Hawks along the levees in all three states. Harlan's Hawks were photographed
in all three states with 2 of my regulars still fast on their winter
territories but I bid them farewell till hopefully they fill their appointed
places
next year. One of the dark Harlan's in Tunica County, MS has returned now for
5 years to the same crossroads, approaching Shy's record of 6 years
wintering at the another location before disappearing.
Every Great Horned Owl nests had fuzzy headed young peering back at this
fuzzy bearded birder. Cooper's Hawks have returned to my yard and are
displaying
and calling and a single Sharp-shinned zoomed through at Ensley Bottoms
where the Red-tailed Hawks have thinned considerably in the last two weeks.
The
male Harrier's are passing back through and the females have headed north as
the 8 to 1 ratio indicated.
An adult Bald Eagle circling over the buildings in downtown Memphis was a
treat but did not phase an adult Peregrine busily having breakfast on a high
perch located on a bank sign. Purple Martins are now in at all nest sites in
downtown and Tree, Rough-wing with a single Barn Swallow all danced and enjoyed
the warm breeze.
The only large concentration of gulls was at the Tunica Dump in MS but in
the masses only 2 Herring Gulls could be detected. A few Bonaparte's Gulls and
Forster's Terns were in with the gulls at Arkabutla Dam, MS. There is a
rookery of 20+ occupied nests of Great Blue Heron off of a little creek that
flows
across the new connector route between I-55 and the Tunica Casinos. I first
saw these distant nests two weeks ago and suspected they belong to Great Blue
Herons and confirmed this Sunday by the birds standing in every nest. Great
Egrets have moved farther north as they were seen in north Shelby Co, this
weekend. Their numbers have fallen at Robco Lake, TN where up to 12 birds have
over wintered.
Last year at this time a female Goldeneye hung out with a few Ring-necked
Ducks in the Horn Lake Slough. The bird has returned and again is feeding in
this shallow water with her friends. The Lesser and Greater Scaup are using
the
pools at TVA Lake in greater numbers on the weekend. Counting these birds
and 2 groups on McKellar Lake I came up with 30 Greater and 760 Lesser. On
Robco Lake, they have almost disappeared in the last two weeks.With geese and
duck numbers declining due to migration I did have a nice selection but a lot
of
loners scattered about, 21 species were tallied.
Least Sandpipers were found in wet fields at all locations, along with
Killdeer, Golden-Plovers, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpipers
and
Wilson's Snipe with a few LB Dowitchers and a Dunlin. Horned Larks are larking
and one was detected scurrying through the grass carrying nesting material
while hubby displayed high overhead. I'll have to return to see if I can
locate the nest. This is one hard nest to find but easier now than next month.
Good Birding !!!
Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA
6298 Memphis-Arlington Road
Bartlett, TN 38135
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