[TN-Bird] Middle Tennessee Big Day Report, 6 May 2012
- From: Scott Somershoe <Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxx>
- To: TN-Birds <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 8 May 2012 01:55:35 +0000
Chris Sloan, Ed Schneider and I did a Big Day on 6 May 2012, as referenced in
the previous email Chris posted about the possible Ruff at Tennessee NWR, Duck
River Unit. We couldn’t possibly top our total of 140 species in Davidson Co.
from last year and no other records could be broken, but we decided to bird
middle Tennessee and have some fun with it.
We covered the hot spots in Nashville, Murfreesboro area, and the
aforementioned Duck River Unit. We managed to find 156 species, plus the
possible Ruff and an uncountable Budgerigar at Radnor Lake. As is always the
case with Big Days, there are some good finds and some birds you just can’t
believe you couldn’t find.
Highlights (and lowlights):
Long Hunter State Park, Davidson and Rutherford Co areas – pre-dawn:
Chuck-wills-Widow (12+), and only one Common Nighthawk. Eastern Screech Owl
responded quickly in the one place where we did playback. Nearby thunderstorms
and gusty winds made pre-dawn birding tough. Whip-poor-will was missed.
Snow Bunting Peninsula on Old Hickory Lake – there were already people out
there before sunrise, but got our only Ring-billed Gulls, Pied-billed Grebe,
Black-crowned Night-Heron, and Common Loon. Missed Horned Grebes that have
been there for days and were seen again today (Monday).
Radnor Lake State Park (Davidson Co.) – we found all the Catharus thrushes
(minus Hermit, of course), Wilson’s Warbler, Redhead, Am Black Duck, and Lesser
Scaup. Missed Horned Grebe present on Saturday. We were alerted to the
aforementioned Budgerigar by the call, which we initially thought was a
circling Pectoral Sandpiper (which would have been weird enough) until it kept
calling from the top of a tree, and then we saw it fly off. They sound oddly
similar, sans the parakeet tone. There may have actually been 2 of them. No
Blackpoll Warbler.
We stopped at the Discovery Wetlands in Murfreesboro (Rutherford Co.) for the
only reliable place for Eurasian Collared-Dove (got it) in vicinity of our
route for the day and it wasn’t far out of the way to the Lytle Creek area. We
decided to make a very quick run through of the wetlands and this paid off big
time with some warblers we’d written off for the day. We picked up Nashville,
Bay-breasted, Canada, and Western Palm Warbler (this one wasn't written off,
but we only had 2 all day), plus the resident Yellow Warbler. Gray Catbird was
found on Saturday and we found one, which was the only one of the day. No
Blackpoll Warbler.
Lytle Creek area, Rutherford Co. – Loggerhead Shrike, Scissor-tailed
Flycatchers, Bewick’s Wren, Red-headed Woodpecker (2).
Simmons Bluff Rd., Wilson Co. – Lark Sparrow (2)
Shelby Bottoms (back to Davidson Co) - Swainson’s Warbler near the big
pedestrian bridge.
Beaman Park – scrounged out a few new warblers for the day over the noise of
teenage skateboarders, but missed Ovenbird. No Blackpoll Warbler.
Bells Bend Park– it was 2 pm and about 90 degrees, making birding tough. We
managed 2 Willow Flycatchers, one Sedge Wren, and one Marsh Wren, plus
Henslow’s Sparrow. We found one very timid Blue-winged Warbler (only one of
the day) and a lone Blue Grosbeak that we seemed to work too hard for, esp.
since we saw about 10 with no effort at Duck River Unit. We missed several
sparrow species seen on Saturday, but then again it was really hot. No
Blackpoll Warbler.
On the way to Duck River Unit, we spied Sharp-shinned, Cooper’s, and
Broad-winged Hawks.
Tennessee NWR, Duck River Unit, Humphrey’s Co. – managed to pick up 10 species
of shorebird including Stilt Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, both dowitchers,
and Willet. We added a few birds missed earlier in the day including Great
Horned Owl, Bank Swallow, Horned Lark, Sora, and Caspian Tern. Warbling Vireo
was finally found about an hour before sunset, which was amazingly tough for us
to find. While watching shorebirds, many of the peeps hunkered down into the
water and we spotted a flyby Merlin. No Blackpoll Warbler.
On the way back we made a bunch of stops in good habitat for Whip-poor-will,
but came up empty.
In the end we did pretty well for middle Tennessee, but we only had 25 species
of warbler and 12 species of shorebird. The most common warbler was probably
Kentucky, with Tennessee a close second. Our biggest misses were: Belted
Kingfisher, Ovenbird, Whip-poor-will, and well, of course, Blackpoll Warbler.
In spite of the hot weather and poor transient numbers in middle Tennessee, it
is astonishing that we couldn’t find a Blackpoll Warbler!
Many, many hours of good birding!
Scott Somershoe
State Ornithologist
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
P.O. Box 40747
Nashville, TN 37204
615-781-6653 (office)
615-781-6654 (fax)
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