June 2, 2002 Dyer and Lake Co. TN Water is still spread over the area as the Mississippi and Obion Rivers slowly recede. Habitat stretches for miles and gives the remaining shorebirds many places to hide. Along the Great River Road I found the following species and totals: Killdeer with young and still sitting on nest all along the way, Semipalmated Plovers 3 in one location, Greater Yellowlegs 1 heard, Spotted Sandpiper 2, Semipalmated Sandpipers 59, Least Sandpipers 3, White-rumped Sandpiper 35, Dunlin 6 in stunning plumage, and last but not least Black-necked Stilts at 4 locations in TN and 1 in KY with nesting confirmed at 3 of these locations with 6 nests. The flooded fields made for some surprising birds like the Common Loon found off 79 Highway and two Fulvous Whistling-Ducks south of Mooring reported on a previous post. The only DC Cormorant of the day was also off 79 with nesting Pied-billed Grebes in Mud Lake. Duck species seen in the flooded areas were: many breeding Mallards and Wood Ducks, 2 male Blue-winged Teal at 104 highway and a pair at Mud Lake, a single female Ring-necked at Mud Lake, 19 Hooded Mergansers - 6 adult with 13 young, 7 Ruddy at Mud Lake - 5 male, 2 female. I only looked at Reelfoot Lake from Champy's Pocket where I found 1 Lesser Scaup and 5 Ruddy - 4 males and a female. In the area around Lake #9 in KY were: 1 Lesser Scaup, Wood, Mallard, Hooded with young plus a male Blue-winged Teal. Adult Bald Eagles were seen at Tiptonville Landing Road, Mud Lake and at Reelfoot Lake. A Common Tern was hunting at 79 highway and hundreds of Least Terns are beginning to nest in the dry areas of flooded fields. Pray for a very slow fall as most of the eggs will be plowed if the fields dry out quickly. Three Forster's Terns were seen on the high and mighty Mississippi River. I checked 4 nesting locations of Cliff Swallows in case a Cave has snuck into town. Willow Flycatchers were found at two locations off the Great River Road with one bird collecting nest lining material while a male sang. Coots were found at 104 Highway, 103 Highway and Mud Lake and with a lot of observation we might find them nesting there due to the courting seen a couple of weeks ago. Just think, in less than three weeks we will see the first returning shorebirds of the coming fall season!!!! 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 =========================================================