[TN-Bird] Little Gull, Surf Scoter etc; Reelfoot Lake area 12/7/2011
- From: Michael Todd <birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: TN Birds <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2011 16:43:26 -0800 (PST)
12/7/2011
Reelfoot Lake area (Lake Co)
I birded part of the day at Reelfoot, looking in the open fields and then
finishing up on the lake. Not much going on up around Black Bayou, lots of
gulls
in the fields, and Red-tails abound. Highlight was a Dunlin with some Killdeer
and Snipe. A few Rusty Blackbirds on thew way to Reelfoot, but no Brewer's or
Western Meadowlarks for me today.
I spent a little over an hour scoping from Keystone. Within just a few minutes
I
had the adult Little Gull in the distance, and it was in view for the next hour
as it made a continuous circuit of the lake. Very distant most of the time, but
the combination of black underwings, lack of white flash on the upperwing, and
very graceful flight made it pretty easy to pick up/stay on even at great
distance. It would come by somewhat close as it circuited that end of the lake,
allowing some better than expected shots. These are 100% crops on an 18Meg
camera, so they are a bit noisy. No hint at the young Little Jeff also had
recently.
Also from Keystone was a Surf Scoter that I happened to catch flying in and
then
finally settling amongst a distant group or Ruddy Ducks, and then promptly
going
to sleep. Mark Greene got over not long after I left, and along with the Little
Gull also managed to refind the Scoter.
A few new pix are posted, starting
here: http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/image/140180992/original
Looking forward to the Reelfoot Xmas count this year, hopefully a Little Gull
will finally stay for us!
Good Birding!!
Mike Todd
McKenzie, TN
birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.pbase.com/mctodd
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- » [TN-Bird] Little Gull, Surf Scoter etc; Reelfoot Lake area 12/7/2011 - Michael Todd
