We called him Ol' Coot

   Jeff R. Wilson passed away on February 11, 2013. Here is the obituary from the local newspaper.

"Known to many in the birding community as Ol' Coot, Jeff spent much of his time outdoors searching for rare birds, conducting Christmas bird counts or leading groups on birding expeditions all over the world. He was a member of The Audubon Society and American Ornithological Society. Jeff was also a member of the Tennessee Watercolor Society. His artwork has been shown at the Brooks Museum of Art."

   I must add a favorite Ol-Coot story at this point. He and I met down at the Ensley Bottoms off Riverport Road. He was studying the shorebirds in the tailing ponds of the waste treatment plant. I was very new to birding then. He showed me this bird and talked about that bird; I was impressed with the massive experience he had.

   He took me down the small path, behind the treatment plant itself. The small forked path leading down to the tail end of McKellar Lake, where the out-flow pipe empties fresh water back into the Mississippi River. We stood next to a line of bushes and Jeff whispered, "There is a Yellow Billed Cuckoo in here." My eyes got big.

   Ol' Coot cupped both hands together and started making a low steady cooing call. I could not believe it when a Yellow Billed Cuckoo hopped out of the bushes and looked down at us. Ol' Coot had called a wild Yellow Billed Cuckoo and it came when he called. Amazing !

   Here is a link to Jeff Wilson's excellent pbase database of bird photos.

   Jeff Wilson will be missed. Our condolences to his loved ones. After the passing of Caroline Bullock two years ago, and now Jeff Wilson, Memphis has lost its greatest birders.

Robert and Berry

photos courtesy of jwilson, dspeiser

Day Trip to Reelfoot

  Berry and I would like to say we jumped out of bed, but it was more like a cringing crawl at first. We packed the car with our birding stuff, binoculars, spotting scope, field guide and a pad to make our list of birds. We drove 200 miles north to Reelfoot Lake, making only one stop to purchase cold weather gear that Robert had forgotten to bring.

Eastern Phoebe

   We went to Reelfoot to monitor the comeback of the Bald Eagles. But as experienced birders, we quickly focused in on the less newsworthy birds. One of my favorites is the Eastern Phoebe(Sayornis phoebe), the only flycatcher which winters in the southeastern United States. This is a drab gray and olive flycatcher with a slightly darker head. If you were not looking, you would not have noticed it.

   The Eastern Phoebe feeds on insects while there are insects in the summer, but eats berries in the wintertime. I noticed this bird when it dipped its tail and started making quick circles with it. This phenomenon is diagnostic, as no other bird does this, drawing circles with its tail.

• American Kestrel
• Red Tailed Hawk
• Northern Cardinal
• White Throated Sparrow
• English Sparrow
• Carolina Chickadee
• Common Grackle
• Pine Warbler
• House Finch
• Darkeyed Slate Colored Junco
• Bald Eagle
• Carolina Wren
• Eastern Phoebe
• Tufted Titmouse
• Red Bellied Woodpecker
• Ruddy Duck
• Horned Grebe
• Yellow Shafted Northern Flicker
• American Crow
• Red Bellied Woodpecker
• Yellow Rumped Warbler
• Snow Goose
• Bluejay
• Turkey Vulture
• Savannah Sparrow
• Downy Woodpecker
• Northern Mockingbird
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Northern Shoveler
• Ring Billed Gull
• Horned Lark
• Green Winged Teal
• American Coot
• Ground Dove

  We stopped around 1pm to eat lunch. I had catfish steaks, onion rings and cinnamon apples. Berry had the potato soup to warm up from the blustery winter winds. At one point, I pulled out my work computer to answer email, but mainly we chatted about birding hot spots and our exceeding good fortune. When it was time to go home, both of us agreed that our Nikon spotting scope is invaluable. And hot coffee does warm you up.

Robert

photo courtesy of 910mmman

Red Tailed Hawk on the Fence !

   The maids were toiling quietly. Berry was in the back of the house. I was sitting at my desk around 9:30am, when suddenly and all at once, a large Red Tailed Hawk swooped down from a tree into our backyard. This does not happen every day, hence the posting of it here. Cosmo was actually in the backyard at the time but did not seem to notice the large raptor's visit.

   The hawk finished his tour of our backyard by landing confidently on the back fence. It was facing our neighbor's yard, so we got a great look at its brown and banded tail. But, this was a "RED TAILed hawk..." you are saying. Well, it was a juvenile red-tailed hawk, so the tail on this one was not red at all. It was banded in two tones of brown, about twelve bands in all.

Juvenile Red Tailed Hawk

   I yelled for Berry to come quickly. We scrounged around for an old pair of binoculars that I do not keep handy. The Sibley's Bird Guide was much easier to find.

   The hawk was still on the fence when we settled down to look at it. We think it was looking for squirrels in our neighbor's yard. This was not the first Red Tailed Hawk seen in our heavily treed but smallish east Memphis property. But anytime is a good time for a hawk.

The Fence later at Night

Robert

photos courtesy of kmcgowan, rfowler

The Battle of Vicksburg

   We traveled up the Mississippi River from Louisiana into southern Mississippi and birded the hardwood lowlands of Vicksburg. In historical times, it was here that Johnny Reb fended off the yankee incursions of the drunken general into the heart of the Confederacy. It was two huge military assaults by Grant himself that led to nought in Vicksburg, but nought led to a heartless siege which after forty days finally starved out the rebels and effectively decided the Civil War. And now, in present times, the quiet of the woods is only broken by the rattle of woodpeckers.

Vicksburg in 1863

Vicksburg Today

   The Red Headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) is a medium sized woodpecker. This black bird is easy to identify due to its head being totally red. The secondary feathers on the trailing edge of each wing are white, making this beautiful bird unmistakable. His uniform of three colors - black, red and white.

Red Headed Woodpecker

   The Yellow Bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) is black, but the black on its back is broken with white bars. Its black head has white lines down the side. The red on its head is split between its throat and the crown of its head. The yellow on its breast and upper belly is difficult to see. Adult males have a red throat; females have a white throat. Its uniform is camouflage, the colors in a disruptive pattern on this bird. And as we shall see, this woodpecker can be very loud.

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

   The battle started when the Red Headed Woodpecker and the smaller Yellow Bellied Sapsucker occupied the very same tree. The Red Headed Woodpecker was situated above the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker when Berry spotted them. Suddenly and all at once, the Red Headed Woodpecker attacked the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker by swooping out and diving on the bird below. As far as Berry is willing to say, this was an unprovoked attack. Who was on whose tree ? That remains the historian's question.

   The unprovoked assault sent the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker into a frenzy of squawking complaint. This could be heard throughout the forest. It was very loud and initiated a series of aerial tiffs where both birds flew up to meet each other. Then more squawking. The Yellow Bellied Sapsucker followed the Red Headed Woodpecker from tree to tree, irritating him, chasing it away. The Red Headed Woodpecker who had started the fight could not stop the fight. It went on for some twenty minutes, as we witnessed it. History can indeed repeat itself many times in the hardwood forests surrounding Vicksburg.

   We left the woods and headed home to Memphis.

Robert and Berry

photos courtesy of unknown, dsherony, colleen, bshelton

Westward to Louisiana

   I impressed Berry that, even before we had eaten breakfast, we saw the Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) on a sandbar. It is black with a distinctive black and orange beak. Its lower mandible is longer than the upper, making it look like a broken beak. This is intentional. As the bird flies close to the water, the longer underpart of the bill is skimmed through the water to scoop up fish. Today we saw them sunning themselves in the sand.

Black Skimmer

   The Mississippi Gulf Coast is a major breeding ground for the Least Tern (Sternula antillarum) and here we spotted lots of them. They were sharing the beach with larger Ring Billed Gulls (Larus delawarensis), some excessively active Willets (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus) and the skittish if not frantic flock of Sanderlings (Calidris alba). We even counted four Herring Gulls (Larus smithsonianus) in the mix. These are large brown birds that reminded me very much of the Great Skua (Stercorarius skua) that we saw in Iceland.

   Five Ruddy Turnstones ((Arenaria interpres) pecked at things on a sandbar. They use their beaks to turn over stones in search of nibblable snacks. The Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri) we recognized because they nest near our hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. Further out on the surf were Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca). They were in deeper water because they have longer legs and long straight bills. Floating out in even deeper water were two Common Loons (Gavia immer).

   It is cool here, but it is the wind that cuts through you. The hurricane damage is still evident. There are empty lots for sale and open foundations where there used to be houses. If people want to rebuild in the path of inevitable hurricanes, homeowners insurance must be astronomical.

Post Hurricane

   We birded down the coast and into the swampland of the Louisiana Purchase. Dat's near N'Awlins, so went into town to have lunch. I spoke twice to my sister by phone and she texted me several times today. She is resting. She suggested that if we were in New Orleans, we should eat at Mandina's restaurant on Canal Street. She used to live there and knew the place. We did not try the homemade Turtle Soup. I had the Trout LaFitte (trout with spicy shrimp etouffee on top). Berry had Fried Eggplant with Marinara Sauce and Shrimp Remoulade. What a tip! What a treat! We were stuffed, so the complimentary Bread Pudding came with us for later.

Mandina's Restaurant

   After an exhausting day birding on the beach, we traded seats and Berry drove on up into Baton Rouge. Tomorrow our journey takes us back up into Mississippi and we'll follow the river to Vicksburg. Then north to Memphis.

Robert and Berry

photos courtesy of tfoote, bshelton, neworleansonline

Birding Around Pascagoula

   We stayed the night in a hotel in Alabama, so when we started birding we were poking around a fleet of fishing boats in southern Alabama. From a concrete platform behind a fishing boat repair shop, we used the spotting scope to identify Common Loons (Gavia immer) in the harbor. The sandblasting and pounding of the repair people did not seem to disturb the Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) which were buzzing around them. A pleasant surprise was our first tern of the trip, the Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) which buffetted themselves from the cold by standing together on the sand facing away from the wind.

   Right over the border into Mississippi and next to the ocean is the Grand Bay Wildlife Refuge. Huge nests were built on top of tall electrical pylons. We examined each nest for its resident bird, probably Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), but did not see anything. Either we were late and they had already flown off, or else, quite possibly, the birds were hunkered down inside the nest to get out of the wind. It was windy all morning.

Osprey Nest

   We saw flocks of American Robins (Turdus migratorius) enjoying the temperate climate of southern Mississippi. On a side street, we saw more than 50 of them pecking at the wet ground. Inside the tangles of a bush I saw the distinctive black head of the Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe). We were thinking that probably the bird-of-the-day was going to be a pair of White Winged Doves (Zenaida asiatica) we saw on Chevron Corporation property. That is until we went to Gautier, Mississippi.

   At the Gautier City Park and Bird Sanctuary we saw these birds:

• Red Winged Black Bird
• Eurasian Collared Dove
• Bluejay
• Orange Crowned Warbler
• Tufted Titmouse
• Carolina Chickadee
• Yellow Rumped Warbler
• Eastern Bluebird
• Pine Warbler
• Belted Kingfisher

Orange Crowned Warbler

   That Orange Crowned Warbler (Oreothlypis celata), which for us is a life-bird, we caught late in the afternoon, flitting first in a gumball tree, then it moved on top of a small shed so we could get a good look at it.

Here are some photos we took in southern Mississippi:

Great Blue Heron

Fishing Boat Returning from Shrimping

Eastern Bluebird

Robert and Berry

photos courtesy of bshelton, rfowler, glasley

Van Harris' Column in the Commercial Appeal

   Van Harris interviewed Berry and I for his column in the Commercial Appeal. Here is a link to the on-line version of the story.

Van Harris's Article

   Robert

Green Winged Teals and Horned Grebes

   We got up early and grabbed some carbohydrates and coffee. Then the weather turned rainy and overcast. We drove to Ross Barnett Reservoir in central Mississippi. The spillway at the dam was delightfully alive with Ring Billed Gulls (Larus delawarensis) and Great Egrets (Ardea alba). The egrets were also roosting in the trees below the spillway. Several Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) were fishing along the bank, right alongside the human "fisher-people".

   At the Pearl River inlet into the reservoir, there is a handsome waterfowl restoration project. Long stretches of grass beds that extend into the lake. Here we spotted a whole flock of Green Winged Teal (Anas crecca carolinensis) trolling for food. Identification marks on the Green Winged Teal include a large green spot on their head and a cream colored vertical stripe on either side. The only other bird that looks like it is the American Widgeon, which has the green spot on its head, but even in the rainy haze which covered the lake, the cream colored vertical stripe is "diagnostic" for the Green Winged Teal.

Green Winged Teal

   It started raining heavily at this point, so we cut out and drove very fast through the pouring rain to eat lunch at the excellent Crescent Grill restaurant in Hattiesburg. Crab cakes and seafood crepes. Bonne bouffe, as the French say. Good grub. It was very nice to get in out of the rain.

   Pascagoula is a small town on the gulf coast of Mississippi near Alabama. Here we saw a flock of American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) on the surface of the intercoastal waterway. They feed in groups by lining up on the water and paddling slowly forward, churning up the little fish in front of them. Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) dive bomb into the ocean to catch fish. American Whites are more civilized. They are white birds, totally white as they sit on the water, yet as they rise into flight, you see the trailing edge of their wings is black. Here is a picture of an American White Pelican.

American White Pelican

   From our hotel based in Mobile, Alabama, we drove across the bay to finally replace the Delorme map of Mississippi we had lost. We had dinner right next door at Wentzell's. I had bacon-wrapped shrimp and Monterey oysters. Berry had she-crab soup and their famous Stuffed Crabs. Delicious. We updated the blog back at our hotel and crashed for the night.

Robert and Berry

photo courtesy of rfowler, mkainickara, awilson

Noxubee

   Berry and I loaded up the car and left Memphis around 9am, after placing the hound in the doggie spa. He likes it there, which is good. When the kennel worker took Cosmo back to his room, Cosmo tugged on the leash. We drove south down past where the snow was on the ground. On the way we saw Turkey Vultures and the American Crow. Heading southeast on Lamar to Highway 45 we went to Starkville, Mississippi where we ate lunch.

   On the way, we heard frightening medical news about my sister. I spoke with other family members and decided to continue our birding trip. My sister herself texted me back in the afternoon that she was resting and feeling better. Berry and I are both still worried.

   The Noxubee Swamp is located inside a huge pine forest. The hardwood bottomland is punctuated at the water with beautiful cypress trees. There were lots of Double Crested Cormorants swimming in the water and drying off on limbs in the water. The only other bird we saw in the water were American Coots.

Noxubee Swamp

   There was a nice wooden boardwalk through the cypress trees to a pier on Lake Noxubee. As we walked slowly down the boardwalk, we heard woodpeckers all around us. The first woodpecker that we identified was the Red Cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis). This bird is endangered and only lives in a handful of places, Noxubee Swamp being one.

Red Cockaded Woodpecker

   Berry identified the next two woodpeckers for us. The Red Headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) was high in a tree near the hospitality building. The Red Bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) she saw along a forest path that we took. It was woodpeckers all day long. We heard a lot more than we saw.

   We had coffee in a cute place called Cuppa in Louisville, Mississippi. It got dark quickly and we drove to Jackson, Mississippi. Berry and I lost our Delorme map of Mississippi. It was in the car, but we searched everywhere and cannot find it. Yikes! After dinner, we went to a bookstore to replace it. The helpful clerk there said that they did not have any Delorme maps of Mississippi. She had maps of everywhere else but not of the state of Mississippi. Go figure.

Robert and Berry

photo courtesy of kegley, rfowler

Finished Birding Kentucky

   After intentionally sleeping late, we packed the car and had breakfast. It was great birding this weekend, but it was time to take the backroads of Tennessee down to Memphis town.

   Berry and I always debate what might be considered the "Bird of the Day" and even the "Bird of the Trip", if we spot a truly rare oddity. Nominations for the "Bird of the Trip" include the mysterious gray Swamp Sparrow, the busy little Ovenbird, the yellow American Goldfinch, and the woodland acrobat White Breasted Nuthatch.

   The award goes to the Yellow Crowned Night Heron that we saw on the roof of the marina in Kuttawa, Kentucky. This is normally a secretive bird, which forages in shallow water late at night, yet we saw it in broad daylight and scoped it easily. The photo yesterday did not do it justice. Thanks to all the birds who entered, but did not win.

"Bird of the Trip"

   Home sweet home and glad to be there. Kentucky was beautiful. Berry and I would like to go back there some day.

Robert and Berry

photo courtesy of wikipedia