Dec. 6-7, 2003 Lauderdale, Dyer and Lake Co. TN I started my way north toward the Vermilion early Saturday but just had to take a few detours and back roads. First stop was Lauderdale Waterfowl Refuge, throngs of ducks filled both land and water. An adult Bald Eagle was keeping a few of the resting ducks alert as it circled overhead. Three Red-tailed Hawks and 2 Harriers filled the raptor list along with a Kestrel. Over the next 12 hours I counted 27 Kestrels. I had 15 species of waterfowl in 30 minutes of scanning. The numbers and density warrant more time but the Vermilion called. Taking the back roads to Reelfoot paid off with a lot of nice Red-tailed Hawks of various morphs but best find was an adult female light morph Rough-legged sporting a single wide tail band that was sitting in a field near Mooring. A few Lapland Longspurs were seen in 4 locations but numbers were low, this would change by Sunday morning. After searching for the Vermilion for an hour, the bird just appeared right in front of me and after one photo, it just as quickly disappeared. I did relocate the bird and spent good study time with it that afternoon and Sunday. After Mike Todd, Don Manning, Judy Newsome, Kevin Calhoon and I had our fill of the ultimate bird of the day on Sunday, we went to view a huge flock of Laps that I had seen early that morning in a field that I had checked multiple times on Saturday and had had just a few birds. There were 2 groups working a large area of rolled rice. I estimate there were 7-800 birds in each group. Kevin and Judy also needed a Brewer's Blackbird for a year list and I lucked up on spying a small group flying over the field that obliged us by landing in a tree so we could see both the males and females. Bald Eagles were present in good numbers and Saturday I had 9 in view at one time when searching for the flycatcher. I photographed one immature bird circling overhead that had a white head, body and white underwing coverts, a strange almost exotic looking raptor to say the least. Greater White-fronted Geese were see trading almost all day long and late on Sunday we had a couple of good sized flocks of Snow Geese with a few small white geese in the mix. Black Bayou Saturday evening hosted sky darkening clouds of ducks. Later on Sunday Kevin said he also would like a LeConte's for his year list and I took him to sparrow heaven in Dyer Co. We walked a small portion of my favorite LeConte's field that is huge and had flushed 10 LeConte's with up close and personal looks at two. During our walkabout we flushed a Short-eared Owl from the field and 1 or 2 Sedge Wrens. A huge field of Panicum with Smart Weed and Sesbania make for a nice ending to any winter day. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL'COOT / TLBA Bartlett, TN =================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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================