April 6-7, 2002 Memphis to Reelfoot Saturday was pretty uneventful, at Ensley the same cast of characters with only 4 Golden-Plovers and the same pair of Black-necked Stilts hiding out in a small pool. The Bald Eagle still sits tight on the nest, peeking over the edge and watching for food deliveries. Lesser and Greater Scaup numbers are way down but Blue-winged Teal are filling every wet area. An Osprey made a short appearance but headed west and two Great Egrets flew north contrasting sharply with the strings of Double-crested Cormorants that lined the sky all weekend. The best came on Sunday when I took almost all day to ride the Great River Road from 104 Highway to Reelfoot looking in all the nooks and crannies for pockets of Wind Birds. After finding a good area I would sit for as long as it would take to scan through all the birds and finding something to study or wonder at on every stop. This is my type of birding and it was tops Sunday. A couple of Osprey startled the birds in one wet field and Bald Eagles got ducks, geese and wind-birds up in a couple of places. For the first couple of hours the birds were continually watching birds flying high beyond even the reach of my 10x's. They would sweep an arc across the sky showing no sign of fear or caution until what ever flew even out of their ability to follow. Evidently the far blue skies in the early morning was filled with brothers of the wind. After 10 it all changed as a bird would fix a stare and slowly sink down to the ground. They would glance again and again at who ever was flying over and most of their companions would also freeze. A few times I could pick up a Red-tail, Cooper's or even a Harrier moving high and fast but most were just phantoms to my feeble senses. After the cloud cover moved in, the rest of the day was dedicated to feeding and resting. American White Pelicans were even found in these flooded fields. Five groups totaling 80 birds were seen along my way north. A group of 21 Snow Geese were found in a field off of the Tenn-Mo levee. The Wind-Birds were spread all along the river in flooded fields. The Mississippi started falling at the end of last week but not very fast and left vast parts of itself in evidence. The Obion-Forked Deer still lay over much of the land away from the Mississippi and wet spring habitat is abundant for the first time in years in the area. Here were some of the Wind Bird gleanings: American Golden-Plovers in 16 locations, total - 948, high number 494 Killdeer - the numbers are down now to mostly resident birds. Black-necked Stilt - a single Male off the Tenn-Mo Levee Greater Yellowlegs - 21 locations, total 317, high number 80 Lesser Yellowlegs - 13 locations, total 198, high number 71 Solitary Sandpiper - 2 locations with single birds Least Sandpiper - a single bird off 103 Highway. More probably were missed due to lush grass growing in the fields. Many times I had sat in one place for 20 or 30 minutes only to have a group of Pectoral Sandpipers burst into the air right in front of me. Pectoral Sandpiper - 14 locations, total 1379, high number 279 Dunlin - 2 birds off Tenn-Mo Levee Long-billed Dowitcher - a single molting into breeding pl. south of 79 Highway Common Snipe - only 3 locations? total 126, high number 103 Total Shorebird Species: 11 wonderful species, it's time for a Ruff or something better but I'd settle for more of the same. 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 =========================================================