September 17, 2006

Myself, Matt Stickel, and Ben & Mary Yandell birded west Kentucky yesterday in an attempt to place the September KY big day record into its rightful rank behind only May and April as the month with the most diverse avifauna. Three years ago, Matt, Ben, and myself tallied 123 species on a day that turned showery, cutting short our tally.

Yesterday, we were up before dawn to start at the West Kentucky WMA in western McCracken County. From there we went to Ballard WMA through early afternoon. Then we hit the north ends of Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. Our final stop was after dark in Muhlenberg County. Our combined species tally was 137, although the breezy day caused for a number of "partials" as all in the group were not able to get on some of the warblers in the waving branches. However, every species was seen or heard by at least two of the party members. A quick review of our 2003 list from September 21st showed 17 species we didn't see yesterday, attesting to the potential for species variety in September (if only the days were as long as they are in June!). We only dodged rain showers a couple of times late in the day, but the southwest breeze created challenges at many points during the day and the cloudy evening really put a damper on late-day birding.

Highlights were as follows:

Pre-dawn, we had all three common owls calling at our FIRST stop of the morning! At another stop nearby just before sunrise we had all three mimids calling at one time. Mitchell Lake yielded 12 species of shorebirds (1 juv Am. Golden-Plover, Semi Plover, Killdeer, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotty and Solitary, Least and 1 juv Western; Pectoral; 6 Stilt Sandpipers, and 1 juv Short-billed Dowitcher). That ended up being all the shorebirds species we could find on the day, although we had a decent variety at Eddy Creek including Semi Plover and Stilt Sandpiper. Most of our ducks were also tallied at Ballard and included both teal, shoveler, and a couple each of Northern Pintail and Gadwall. One lone juvenile Least Tern was still there, as well; it seemed to have been left behind by all the adults. Just above the dam on Lake Barkley were some Lesser Scaup (surely injured summerers) and a Ruddy Duck (early arrival???).The warm day was not conducive to raptor movement, so our list was lower than expected with one migrant Sharpie being the only decent hawk. The only larids of interest over in the LBL area were 3 juv. Laughing Gulls (1 on the marina roof and two on bridge pilings below Ky Dam). Gulls and Caspian Terns are numerous on the bars near Kuttawa and above Barkley Dam now. Passerines were present but not in huge abundance; with persistence, a list of 21 warblers was tallied by the group. Highlights of the warbler list included the only bird lacking precedent ... a Blackpoll Warbler (easily the farthest west one has ever been reported in the state in fall; Henderson Co. being the previous westernmost). Others passerines of interest included 3 Scissor-tailed Flycatchers still below Barkley Dam, relatively tardy Great Crested Flycatcher and Yellow-breasted Chat, a few Philly Vireos,
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and a Kentucky Warbler. We ended the day with a calling Virginia Rail in Muhlenberg County. We considered our "worst"
misses to be Am. White Pelican (just not back yet except for the ones at Paradise that we didn't get back east in time to find), Northern Harrier, Cooper's and Broad-winged Hawk, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Common Nighthawk, Wood Thrush, Pine Warbler, and Song Sparrow.

bpb, Matt, Ben & Mary