It’s Lumper and Splitter’s favorite time of year…the annual update to checklists and taxa…
Check out the annual upate to checklists, tax and name changes...brought to you by Michael Retter of the American Bird Association. https://www.aba.org/aos-supplement-2024/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR21wuYzKxQ6DE9cDWkJR_ajdI_jhJ7KurjcLYig2nxiNi7NZrIzwi3MlqQ_aem_4ZgrwcgFCMUfjXCXc0JEuQ
TOS State Meeting – Sept. 27th to 29th – hosted by Memphis Chapter
The Memphis Chapter invites you to the 2024 TOS Fall meeting to be held September 27 – 29 in Millington. Friday night registration and social will be held at the Holiday Inn Express, 5090 Copper Creek Boulevard, from 5 to 8 PM. The Saturday afternoon Board of Director’s Meeting will be held at 2 PM in the recreation lodge at Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park, 910 Riddick Road, Millington. A paper session will be held following the BOD meeting. A block of rooms is being held at the Holiday Inn Express, with a rate of $129.00 plus tax, per night. Breakfast (0600 – 1000) is included. Call the Inn directly at (901) 872-3640 and mention TOS to make a reservation by August 30 to guarantee this rate. There are a number of other nearby hotels – Hampton Inn, Motel 6, Plantation Oaks Suites and Inn. We are planning field trips for Saturday and
NO monthly meetings in July and August – Enjoy your summer!
There are no monthly meetings in July and August of each summer. Please join us as we 'flock' back together on September 19th with a Pot Luck celebration beginning at 6 pm. Have a safe and wonderful summer!!
May 18th Field trip summary to Green Door Gourmet
Eleven participants took part in last Saturday's field trip to the Green Door Gourmet. Although weather forecasts called for the potential of rain throughout the morning, the weather cooperated perfectly and it remained pleasant and dry. As we started down toward the river, one of the participants spotted a hawk on a distant snag near one of the manmade ponds and as I scanned for the hawk, my scope instead fell on a Black-billed Cuckoo that happened to be perched out in the open in a tree at the edge of the pond. Unfortunately it didn't oblige us for very long and dropped into dense cover soon after being spotted, robbing a few folks of the opportunity for views. Soon after, we were in the midst of the overgrown fields and ran into our first Dickcissel, amongst the more numerous Orchard Orioles, Blue Grosbeaks, yellowthroats, and meadowlarks. As we worked our way
2024 Spring Count numbers…
Here are the results of our recent count, which was held May 4. Canada Goose - 71 Wood Duck - 49 Mallard - 104 Blue-winged Teal - 6 Lesser Scaup - 15 Red-breasted Merganser - 11 Northern Bobwhite - 16 Wild Turkey - 30 Common Loon - 2 Pied-billed Grebe - 1 Double-crested Cormorant - 303 Great Blue Heron - 73 Great Egret - 12 Snowy Egret - 1 Green Heron - 3 Black-crowned Night-Heron - 2 Black Vulture - 205 Turkey Vulture - 29 Osprey - 18 Cooper's Hawk - 4 Bald Eagle - 6 Red-shouldered Hawk - 8 Broad-winged Hawk - 6 Red-tailed Hawk - 17 American Coot - 2 Killdeer - 17 Spotted Sandpiper - 10 Solitary Sandpiper - 4 Least Sandpiper - 5 Ring-billed Gull - 2 Herring Gull - 2 Common Tern - 2 Forster's Tern - 5 Rock Pigeon - 13 Eurasian Collared-Dove - 4
Field Trip to Green Door Gourmet on Saturday, May 18th
Green Door Gourmet Organic Farm Saturday, May 18th, 2024, 6:30am We will tour this 200+ acre working organic farm which is nestled along the Cumberland River right across from Bells Bend Park. Featuring a mix of cedar forest, upland hardwoods, and large agricultural fields, it forms a habitat mosaic that should attract a wide variety of birds. We plan to hike around the entire property along a set of gravel and grass roads that visit these different habitats, and the total distance traveled should be approx. 3 miles. The farm also features restrooms and an organic farm shop where we will conclude the trip. We will meet at 6:30am at the main entrance and insect repellent is strongly recommended. We are keeping a close eye on the weather, and will send updates if storms force us to cancel! Mike Smith Hendersonville, TN