[TN-Bird] Thanksgiving Holiday
- From: OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2002 07:45:18 EST
Nov. 28-29, 2002
Shelby Co. TN
Tunica Co. MS
I took a holiday from my TN Big Year quest on Turkey Day to see how Tunica
Co. just 20 miles south of Memphis was shaping up as to winter birding. As
usual I was not surprised to find good birds with a few surprises.
I started and ended the event by birding along the river front in Memphis and
Ensley Bottoms on Thursday and Friday. I'll get the TN stuff out first. At
Eagle Lake Refuge I had 2 adult Bald Eagles lazing around high in the sky;
looks like nesting in the area again. The few ducks there were soon heading
for other wetlands as a person had entered the closed area and had a huge dog
off leash scattering the birds. A couple of Harriers and lots of pipits
filled the list on this short visit.
At Mud Island there were still over 200 gulls and 300 plus cormorants plus 5
Red-breasted Mergansers, these were there again on Friday. A Peregrine Falcon
gave me a start when I picked it up in full speed, in flight chasing the
gulls, not letting them perch on the sandbars. The resident mocker still
comes and sits on your car waiting for handouts.
At Ensley on TVA Lake the wintering flocks of divers are there with numbers
and species fluctuating as they feed in McKellar Lake and rest at the
settling pond. There are great opportunities to ferret out the Greater Scaup
in all stages and ages of plumage. Also in the flock were occasional token
Redhead, Canvasback and Hooded Mergansers with a few Ring-necked thrown in.
An even more spectacular mass of the same mix can be found at Robco Lake but
the lighting was bad when I was there. A few White Pelicans fly in and out
there also.
At the Pits in Ensley, I counted, 342 Killdeer, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, 722+
Least Sandpipers, 2 Dunlin and 15 Snipe. Among the many Red-tailed Hawks, was
a nice dark morph that sailed over for a few snap shots and up to 4 Harriers.
By watching the ducks for an extended period, I had them point out a high
migration of raptors that was in progress even though there were stiff winds
from the south. I counted 14 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Cooper's, 1 Sharp-shinned
and 2 Harriers. I also was rewarded with my second only Golden Eagle for
Ensley Bottoms as late Friday afternoon, an immature sailed over. The second
best show on Friday was the afternoon shenanigans of the 2 Peregrine Falcons
that are frequenting two different grain elevators that can be seen from TVA
Lake. They get together for occasional loops but the western bird chased and
dived repeatedly on any raptor that came close. After giving one Red-tail a
lesson on flying, it then WIND WRESTLED a Kestrel. That was one dipsy-doodle
of a show.
Everything is in place in Tunica County, MS for the winter. There were flocks
of Lapland Longspur, large but not the huge numbers yet, many Red-tails of
all varieties and a large number of Harriers. I could not stay late to locate
Short-eared Owls but things look good. When I flushed a large group of Great
Blue Herons and a few Great Egrets at one location, one bird stood out as a
completely different color. The bird was a pale pearl-gray all over, even the
primaries. This mixed up Great Blue was one strange looking bird, not white
enough for leucistic but probably would fall in the "diminished color"
category sometimes applied to off colored birds. I have distant photos
showing this bird, hopefully it will stay around.
By far the most astounding sight was the largest single continuous flock of
geese rising in the distance that looked like a mountain set on the flat
landscape. I have seen flocks that have been counted and estimated at 70,000
plus, down there but this stretched for a mile and had to be at least double
any previous flocks I've seen over the years, at some points you could barely
see through the throngs. I raced to the area and got some dizzying shots of
this happening. I also got some nice comparative shots of Ross's. There were
also huge numbers of Greater White-fronted.
These birds were at Beatline and Little Texas crossroads. I also had a
Harrier flush a bird right in front of me at this location which passed back
over the truck that evidently was a Snow Bunting. It settled back into the
stubble out in the field. After putting on my boots and walking around, I
could not relocate the bird. I've been fooled once before by a leucistic
Horned Lark in a flock but this was a lone bird. I have had two Snow Buntings
in the same area, one at Thanksgiving and one that Paul Bagguley from the UK
and I had around Christmas one year. Any body visiting the area should look
for this bird. The bird was only 30 feet up and I think it was a first year
bird due to the extensive coloration on the coverts.
Anybody want to come down after the first of the year drop me a line and we
will stalk a bunch of Western Meadowlarks and enjoy the overpowering numbers
of wintering birds.
Now back to work on my TN birds..........
Good Birding!!!
Jeff R. Wilson
OL' COOT / TLBA
Bartlett Tenn.
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