Date:         Wed, 11 Dec 2002 22:10:08 -0500
Reply-To:     "James F. Flynn, Jr." <jim.flynn@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender:       Georgia Birders Online <GABO-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "James F. Flynn, Jr." <jim.flynn@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject:      South-central Georgia, 12/8/2002
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

A couple of notes from a trip that Earl Horn and I took to south central
Georgia this past Sunday.  We spent most of the time in Cook, Tift,
Irwin and Turner Cos. before finishing up the day at the Cobb owl fields
in Sumter Co.  We had pretty good luck with the land birds, but
waterfowl was quite scarce.  Some of the species observed are as follows:

- Gray Catbirds and Black-and-white and Orange-crowned Warblers at
several locations

- scattered American Pipits, Golden-crowned Kinglets and American
Goldfinches

- small numbers of Palm Warblers (many qualified as the "Eastern/Yellow"
subspecies)

- a Winter Wren in Tift Co. along the Little R., and one in Irwin Co.
along the Alapaha R.

- a Fox Sparrow just east of Reed Bingham SP along Evergreen Church Rd.
(CR 99, DeLorme p. 59, grid E-6)

- 19 Least Sandpipers at the Aquaculture Research Center along US 41
just north of Tifton

- a male Boat-tailed Grackle (Florida race) at Bowen Lake (intersection
of Bowen Rd. and Harold Tyson Rd., DeLorme p. 59, grid B-7) east of Tifton

- three Sandhill Cranes along CR 268/CR 260/Five Bridge Rd. (depends on
which part of the road you look at in DeLorme p. 59, grid A-8, or
whether you use DeLorme Street Atlas software), Irwin Co.,  that were
apparently just on the ground before we arrived, as they were flying
quite low, but eventually gaining altitude.

- the highlight of the day was a Lincoln's Sparrow in Irwin Co., which
popped up in a brush pile in an old field along a road denoted as CR 53
on DeLorme p. 59, grid A-8, but as New Valley Grove Rd. in DeLorme's
Street Atlas software.  The field is on the west side of CR 53 just
south of the intersection of CR 53 and CR 268/CR 260 (in DeLorme's
software, it is Five Bridge Rd.).  An old brush pile in a dry field
isn't exactly prime habitat for this species, but we were able to take
some diagnostic photos.

- a Yellow-breasted Chat, a rare bugger to find this late in fall, at
the intersection of GA 32 and Wagon Wheel Rd., Turner Co.

- three Vesper Sparrows in a cotton field along Wagon Wheel Co.,
surprisingly our only Vespers of the day.

- 27 Northern Harriers and one Short-eared Owl at the owl fields in
Cobb, Sumter Co.

We also made a trip to Paradise PFA, Berrien Co., which can be quite
productive for waterbirds.  There were disappointing numbers Sunday
afternoon, though, with a Mallards, a Bufflehead, a Ring-necked Duck and
Ruddy Ducks the only duck species present.  Also present were a few
Common Moorhen, lots of Pied-billed Grebes, and a handful of Ring-billed
Gulls.

Take care.

--
Jim Flynn
Forsyth Co., GA
jim.flynn@mindspring.com
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