June 24th, 2018
I took a kayak across the Tennessee River this afternoon to Hog Creek
Bottoms in Decatur County. Apparently the water levels have been lowered
recently in several Duck hunting impoundments over there, and there were
nearly 100 waders present, mostly Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons. I
also saw 2 adult YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS, and an immature WHITE IBIS,
both of which I hadn't seen in Decatur County before.
Later while watching the same area from across the Tennessee River in
Perry County (watching waders go to roost) I had a male RED CROSSBILL fly
over calling, possibly headed up towards the Pines in a nearby cemetery. (
I wasn't able to relocate the bird). This wasn't something I was expecting
for here, but it was an unusual year for the species with flocks of mixed
type 2 and type 3 at Fort Campbell late Spring and several photographed in
early June at a feeder in Henderson County.
