One of the best places to bird in the Memphis area is Riverport Road. To get there is difficult since they closed the main road in. From the 240 Expressway you can take Third Street going north, turn left on Mallory Road, then left again on Horn Lake Road and look for the right turn into the railroad yard area and Riverport Road. We exited the Expressway, taking Third Street heading south, turned right on Peebles Road and right again on Horn Lake Road. Coming up from the south we turned left on the road heading to the railroad.
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We drove slowly along Riverport Road. In the small ponds to the side of Riverport Road, adjacent to the now closed T.H.Fuller Golf Course, we observed lots of birds. It was fun getting our spotting scope focused on the "pied bill" of the Pied Billed Grebe (Podilymbus Podiceps). The Wood Duck (Aix Sponsa) has a characteristic white bridle on its neck, even in its winter coloring. We saw more than a thousand Lesser Scaup (Aythya Affinis) in the tailing ponds of the Allen Steam Plant. In the back, behind the huge flock of Scaup, we spotted five or six Double Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax Auritus) who submarine for tiny fish, then come to shore, spread their wings and hold them out to dry them. One of the drawbacks for us as far as this bird-rich area would be the nasty smell of the local Waste Treatment Plant, but we endure.
Berry and I think the Northern Shoveler (Anas Clypeata) is dressed in clothes from the Gap (store). It is covered attractively in patches of brown, white, green and red. Hiding in the tall reeds was the green headed Mallard (Anas Platyrhynchos). Mallards are usually plentiful and common in Memphis, but today we only saw one hiding in the back. There were hundreds of Gadwall (Anas Strepera), almost camouflaged in drab olive gray with a black spot on its rump. The American Coot (Fulica Americana) is easy to differentiate from ducks because it is not a duck. It is shaped more like a Moorhen or Purple Gallinule. We saw two large Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis) munching grass on the side of the levee of Riverport Road.
There were Mourning Doves (Zenaida Macroura) on every manmade structure on Riverport Road. On power line towers, on railroad tracks, on telephone lines, on fences and on the edges of buildings. Berry found two Great Blue Herons (Ardea Herodias) but it is still a little early in the season for the large waders. We saw a large flock of American Robins (Turdus Migratorius) on the side of the levee. The local Robins do not migrate away from Memphis in the wintertime, but this flock may have been cold weather visitors from Canada or the northern states. European Starlings (Sturnus Vulgaris) are an introduced species, originally from Europe. We twist our faces when we see them, because they are pest-like.
We saw only a handful of Red Winged Blackbirds (Agelaius Phoeniceus) singing "Conk-a-ree" in the swampy areas. We will see lots more of these in the summertime. In the bottomland between Riverport Road and McKellar Lake we looked at a Pine Warbler (Dendroica Pinus) in the top of a tree next to a Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) complaining in the same tree. There, under that tree, we reminisced about Ol' Coot with whom we had birded.
The Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella Magna) has a characteristic four note call which drew our attention. We saw plenty of them in the open fields of Ensley Bottoms next to Paul Lowery Road. We spotted a bright red male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) in the tops of the small trees. On the struts of a power line tower, we saw two Eastern Phoebes (Sayornis phoebe), twirling their tails diagnostically. Further down Paul Lowery Road, heading south past several factories we were looking for the Bobolink (Dolichonyx Oryzivorus) which migrates through the Memphis area about this time. We did not see it but we did see the Dickcissel (Spiza Americana) and it became the bird of the day. This handsome visitor resembles the Eastern Meadowlark in color but has the shape of a sparrow and is about the size of a Northern Cardinal.
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As the sunlight was fading in the west, we drove down a gravel road toward the line of trees. In the soybean stubble of the fallow field next to a steel plant, we saw a pair of handsome Horned Larks (Eremophila Alpestris). We have seen these birds at the same place several years in a row. Very nice day of birding!
Robert and Berry
photo courtesy of rebelat and googlemaps
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