Feb. 1-2, 2003 TN-AR-MS I spent most of Saturday and Sunday running the areas close to the Mississippi River in all three states. There was a noticeable difference between the two days. Saturday here in Memphis along the river and at Ensley everything was about the same with the concentration of Ring-billed Gulls at Dacus Bar and more feeding along the river. Anthony Whitted's Peregrine was perched on a dead snag on the bar across from Mud Island. A few Laps and 3 Western Meadowlarks at Ensley with 13 Red-tailed Hawks in the area were far outnumbered by the huge concentration of Lesser and Greater Scaup on TVA Lake. At Robco the numbers of waterfowl were down and in Tunica Co. Mississippi the geese were the central feature with all four of the regular species in good numbers. Greater Yellowlegs, Wilson's Snipe and Least Sandpipers were the only shorebirds found. Three Great Egrets were seen but no Tri-colored nor Cattle Egrets. Longspur numbers were down but Western Meadowlarks were in all their regular locations and seem to be forming larger groups as the season would predict. I did see a couple of groups of Sandhill Cranes but did not stay for the Harrier/Short-eared Show. Early Sunday started off with large flocks of very high flying geese heading not just north but following close to the river. These would pass over till midday at any location near the river as far north as Osceola. The Peregrine had taken possession of the bar and all the gulls had moved to a less favorable roosting location. There was still only one Herring Gull and a few Bonaparte's Gulls in the 500 plus Ring-billed. I decided to follow the geese up river on the Arkansas side to see where they were going. It is not the normal behavior of these birds as they usually fly lower and spread out into the rice fields just to the west of Memphis and do not fly directly or nearly so, along the river. Some flocks did come north at a lower altitude and head west but by far the majority were in travel mode, flying high and directly along the river. In scanning these high flocks, I saw no Greater White-fronted in the groups only a few small flocks were found later in the fields. More interesting were the American Robins that could only be seen with field glasses hurrying along with these geese. As robins do they were spread thinly and not bunched up but there was a continuous movement seen from just about any location. I spent most of the rest of the day looking for Sandhill Cranes with no luck and ended up trying for a good tail shot of a Western Meadowlark. I took 50 plus shots of various birds with the wind howling but got very little for my efforts. Again the groups of these birds have gotten larger and in one field as I scanned, 30 birds were counted. I'll have to get back over to this area early one morning to hear the young birds practice their songs. The Lapland Longspur flocks in Arkansas were decidedly smaller but still each numbered in the hundreds. Have they also eased to the north, pushing the envelop? February is the month where only the brave or foolish forge north but as the month goes on more and more will answer the call. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL' COOT / TLBA Bartlett Tenn. =================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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================