August 22, 2006
Birding in Memphis
I just got back from an exhausting 2 week trip to the US, starting off in Memphis, TN for the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America. I had a view towards the great Mississippi River from my hotel room, and soon after arrival the trip list kicked off with Purple Martin, Chimney Swift and at dusk, several Common Nighthawks.
At dawn the next morning, I joined the official ESA field trip to the Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park, an extensive area of bottomland hardwood forest. The shady forest trails were incredibly quiet at first, but as soon as the first rays of sunlight hit the canopy, a flurry of activity ensued. Among the warbler feeding frenzy I caught sight of my lifer Cerulean Warbler (a female) and first US Worm-eating Warbler, and a Louisana Waterthrush showed briefly at head height - marvellous! At nearby Eagle Lake Wildlife Refuge we were entertained by many Mississippi Kites feeding on dragonflies much like our European Hobbies. Our next stop was a visit to an impressive tract of Cypress swamp, which was somewhat reminiscent of Yoda's home world from the Star Wars movies.
Here we had fantastic views of my lifer Prothonotary Warblers...
...which left me rather less enthused by my first view of an Acadian Flycatcher! The rest of our time here we spent watching this Water Snake struggling with its lunch of frogs' legs!
The forest trails were full of interesting insects, including these attractive Velvet Ants...
Eastern Tiger Swallowtails (female pictured here)...
... and Hackberry Emperors, who were drawn to the copious amounts of sweat produced by those of us unaccustomed to the high humidity here!
Among the less welcome insect visitors were several alarmingly-sized horseflies.
One last stop on the banks of the Mississippi produced good views of the interior race of Least Tern. There were several giant female Garden Spiders on show...
... often accompanied by a teeny male.
I was fortunate enough to return to the state forest twice more with local birder Dick Preston, who helped me find my lifer Kentucky Warbler at point blank range. We also had amazing views of Worm-eating and Blue-winged Warblers, and encountered four vireo species (Red-eyed, White-eyed, Yellow-throated and Warbling). The forest shade made digiscoping difficult, but I did manage 'record shots' of Yellow-billed Cuckoo (amazingly common and vocal here)
Indigo Bunting...
... a quizbird-worthy shot of a shy female Summer Tanager...
... and a young Little Blue Heron.
Of non-bird interest we saw a Five-lined Skink,...
... a late-to-bed Opossum (the first I've seen during the day)
... and many loud cicadas.
I also had the pleasure of meeting the 'Ol' Coot' Jeff Wilson, finder of many first state records including Tennessee's only Ivory Gull! After scanning some distant shorebirds and Black Terns at Mud Island, we went to see a family of hybrid Western Kingbird x Scissor-tailed Flycatchers. I was able to get a couple of pictures of a confused-looking youngster. In size, structure amd belly colour it much resembled a Western Kingbird, but note the pale head, deeply notched tail and prominent pale edging to the wing feathers typical of Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.
We also spent a couple of hours shorebirding at 'the pits', in the extreme SW corner of the state. We had wonderful views of many shorebird species, including Stilt, Semipalmated and Solitary Sandpipers. Among the many Least Sandpipers was this bright juvenile.
There were good numbers of Pectoral Sandpipers too, many looking like overgrown Dunlins with their beaks caked in black mud.
I was pleasantly surprised at how much birding I was able to squeeze in around the conference, although was pretty tired by the end of the week after several 530am birding starts, a day of talks, and evening drinks!
Elvis and his long-lost son?
Birding buddy Marcel Holyoak 'celebrated' turning 40 by getting a tasteful Elvis tattoo!
