Big Day (Bird Race)

1 October 2000

by Brainard Palmer-Ball, Jr.

Big Day Statistics:

• 117 species
• 145 miles by car, 1 by foot; 0600 to 1930 hours
• Visiting: West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area, McCracken Co., Ballard Co. Wildlife Management Area, sandbars along the Mississippi River near Laketon, Carlisle Co., Kentucky Lake, Marshall Co., and Lake Barkley, Lyon Co.
• Species of Note: Wood Duck (Missed), Greater Scaup (Early - injured, had summered), Wild Turkey (Missed), American Avocet (Rare), Franklin’s Gull (Rare), Sabine’s Gull (Vagrant), Acadian Flycatcher (Late), Red-eyed Vireo (Missed), Swainson’s Thrush (Missed), Yellow Warbler (Late), Cape May Warbler (Rare).

This was the first conscious effort at an October Big Day for Kentucky and probably represents a relatively credible baseline.  A taped call of Eastern Screech-Owl was used to draw in passerines during the day.  No owls were sought before or after daylight.

SPECIES LIST:

Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Cattle Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bald Eagle
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Northern Bobwhite
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden-Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs (hd)
Lesser Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Common Snipe
Franklin’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Sabine’s Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Forster’s Tern
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker (hd)
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
 Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo (hd)
Warbling Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Wood Thrush (hd)
American Robin
Gray Catbird (hd)
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Blue-winged Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush (hd)
Common Yellowthroat
Summer Tanager (hd)
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow.

Brainard.Palmer-Ball@mail.state.ky.us