Feb. 15-16, 2003 Reelfoot Area Duck and geese numbers are teeming to say the least at Reelfoot. In the Fields north of Black Bayou, a tractor was rolling the rice even in the rain, sleet and snow on both days. The areas where this rolling had taken place was black with ducks in the early morning as a few photos I took show nearly no exposed ground just feathers. All four species of geese were easily located as flocks traded around. Nancy Moore reported a light morph Rough-legged Hawk in Black Bayou on Friday and others saw the bird on Saturday and Sunday. It showed up usually later in the day to the south side of the road near 78 Highway. I missed the bird time and again but in the quest found 3 Krider's, 2 adult and 1 immature and best of all I was able to show quite a few birders the details on a light morph Harlan's which is a pretty rare bird around here. The Purple Martin was a very unexpected treat along with 30 harriers going to roost as we stood in the rain Saturday evening. About half of these Harriers were males! The cold rain became so intense that we had to give up the vigil before any Short-eared Owls came up. I had seen two there a couple of weeks ago. Vesper Sparrows were seen along the levee and I photographed an adult Peregrine Falcon that spent both days just inside KY harassing all that dared to fly by. There are about 5 or 6 Western Meadowlarks using the area along the road to Gray's Camp near 78 Highway but I located a group of at least 16, south of State Line Road on the road running north from Phillippy. Another up close, single bird near the Ibis Hole gave another group good looks at the tail pattern and other details. I must have looked at 5000+ Ring-billed Gulls feeding out in the fields and on the river but came up with nothing other than a few Bonaparte's and a single Herring. The wind on the lake made for fruitless scanning but there were 2 groups of Common Goldeneye (9 and 14) in Champy's Pocket plus a few Pied-billed and Horned Grebes. Ruddy, Greater and Lesser Scaup made the bulk of the sighting on the lake. I did end up with 20 species of waterfowl and again missed Redheads. I had one fly over Lesser Yellowlegs and saw another in the rice fields later. Wilson's Snipe flitted about in and out of the stubble. Killdeer are already in Breeding Mode with multiple males escorting single and I might say very attractive females. They play a game of you move, I move, then he moves, then she moves and then we all move. It looks like a slow but highly choreographed waltz. Pairs of Horned Larks are already picking out territories and nesting will began early next month. 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 =========================================================