[TN-Bird] Pace Point Produces at Last!
- From: OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2002 08:50:31 EST
Nov. 2-3, 2002
Pace Point Area
Henry and Benton Co. TN
Well, after 4 weekends at the Point, it finally produced the desired bird
plus an abundance of loons and waterfowl. Early Saturday, I was greeted by
smooth waters and the concentration of birds I've been waiting for. The loons
were getting aquatinted by hooting, yelping and calling with groups seen at
all points of the compass.
The mass of divers in the cove before the point, first produced a Surf Scoter
and another smaller dark bird that I had high suspicions of being my sought
after Black Scoter but it chose to sleep without raising its head for hours.
It was probably trying to recoup from an all night travel session. I've had
scoters, both White-winged and Surf, on all my previous visits this year but
needed that bird to raise its head to complete the trio. Birders are having a
great year all across the US with scoters, hard winter coming?
A single Franklin's Gull was found sleeping at the Point among the many
Ring-billed and Herring Gulls, along with the single immature Lesser
Black-backed that has been hanging around. I got a shot of the Franklin's but
a Bald Eagle swooped in and raised everyone. When the circling produced no
sign of a cripple or exceptionally tired bird the eagle flew off to check
another group of birds to the south.
At Rocky Point, I found an adult Lesser Black-back Gull, in the same spot we
located the first immature for the State in 1989. An adult has returned to
this same location since 1994 and I would like to think it may be the same
bird. I located another LBB farther south about 10 minutes later and I could
see both birds at the same time. One is slightly lighter than the other with
more head streaking and this is probably the same pair I've seen over the
past few weeks nearer Paris Landing. It would be nice to get some photos to
see if they are of the two subspecies listed.
Scanning the loons produced the first Pacific Loon for the year and I put in
a call for Jan Shaw as she had given me an order last weekend for this
Specific Loon. The bird was a pale napped immature and I later added an all
dark adult. Over the next 3 hours of scanning, I saw an immature Red-throated
Loon on two occasions for just minutes each time. They move in mysterious
ways, ghosts like in their ability to materialize and disappear in the blink
of an eye.
Back at the cove located south of the Point, I settled down for another sit
in with the sleeping suspect. A bird appeared scooting just across the waters
from Eagle Creek and as it twisted and turned on its approach, looking for a
place to settle, I could see it was all dark and plump. It settled in like
most scoters, they don't land, they just quit flying and as it shook its head
I could see the bump on the bill. I had a young male BLACK SCOTER and chalked
up species number 300 for the year at 10:52 AM on Nov. 2. This new arrival
immediately went to sleep and appeared the same size and shape as the bird I
had been watching.
At the loon parade late in the afternoon my high count with one sweep of the
scope was 273 loons in view at one time, high number in one group was 43
birds. Allowing for those birds out of view and feeding below the surface my
prediction of 300 birds this weekend pretty much came through on the money.
The next morning, Jan Shaw, Melinda Welton, and Chris Sloan pulled into Big
Sandy at dawn for a shot at the goodies. It was a fine, gray, misty morning
and we were greeted with warbling, hooting and yelping from the huge number
of loons that surrounded us. Although it spit rain on us most of the morning
we located Jan's specific Pacific relatively fast and we enjoyed about the
best looks at the immature that one could want. It had suddenly appeared
right in front of Chris and then proceeded to preened for an extended period.
We had seen the bird feeding in a distant flock but no good looks and Jan had
missed the bird.
We were able to locate the two adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 4 different
Surf Scoters and 2 Franklin's Gulls along with a multitude of other birds.
The rain got worse along with the viewing and we stuck out on the
Red-throated and Black Scoter but did not spend enough time in one place to
be rewarded. We did get to see an abundance of Dunlin which are passing
through in numbers, along with Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs at the Big Sandy
Flats.
After they left at 1 PM, I added Greater White-fronted Geese along with my
first of the season Canvasbacks at Britton Ford and finished the weekend with
20 species of waterfowl. I missed Pintail all weekend, where we have had them
over the past weeks but found a season first, female Red-breasted Merg at Big
Sandy to fill its slot.
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
=========================================================
Other related posts:
- » [TN-Bird] Pace Point Produces at Last!
