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Dawn Chorus - My last Bird Count of 2024 [1]

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Date: 2025-01-12

I left home at 6 am on the last day of 2024. My goal was to collect data for 6 hours at one of my favorite “birding hotspots”, the lower Sardis Lake (Panola County, Mississippi).

It began as I walked to the truck when my neighbor’s chickens (Junglefowl) and another neighbor’s Peacock began screaming for the sun to rise. I perceived the calls as a good omen.

The 15 mile trip included a stop for coffee and the chance to see my first recorded birds. 4 Rock Pigeons guarded the entrance to the QuickMart where I stopped. The caws of Common Crows filled the air on my way out of the store. I figured they were the “clean up crew” for dropped food by sleepy patrons. I still had 10 miles left in the journey so I gingerly sipped the hot drink while driving.

Common Crow

I rode with the truck window cracked open in case I heard some sounds from beyond the trees lining the road. From the easy light of the pastel blue haze, I heard a Red-tail Hawk screech. The honking complaints of Canada Geese was the response as their slumber was disrupted. I drove on; my excitement enhanced.

Pulling into a parking space (I prefer one near the dam spillway) a Great Blue Heron croaked and then the flapping of a Great Egret wings faded as the two hunters departed.

Great Blue Heron (fore ground) Great Egret with Northern Shovelers (not spotted on this outing).

I gathered my stool, camera, binoculars and note pad and sneaked down to the shore line. As the sky lightened, I could hear first, then soon saw, the birds stirring over the mildly choppy water.

A Belted Kingfisher gave a high pitched repertoire from a perch, 2 Bald Eagles (one after the other) zoomed over the tree tops toward the main lake. The Black Vulture sentinels (more than 3 dozen) lifted from the branches as the eagles crossed then the vultures began a swirling mass (precursor to a kettle).

Black Vulture

I put the camera down and started a visual hunt (binocs and pen) to record the sights. Here is the first hour of information I gathered.

1 Little Blue Heron 12 White Pelicans 3 Double-crested Cormorants 10 Ring-billed Gulls 20 Great Egrets 4 Fish Crow 2 Horned Grebe 24+ Turkey Vultures 6 Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco (Slate shaded)

The emergence of the Junco prompted me to move to a site where I knew more smaller birds would gather. I bundled my gear up, retreated to the truck and drove to another section of the lake where I had enjoyed birding through the year.

I’ll show a few of the species I recorded before I post my data from that spot.

Chipping Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Field Sparrow

American Goldfinch

Seen and heard (from that two hour observation point) 2 Song Sparrows 3 House Sparrows 5 Starlings 8 White-throated Sparrows 8 Bluebirds 2 Marsh Wrens 10 Cardinals 2 Savannah Sparrows 8 Eastern Meadowlark 5 Blue Jays 12 Red-winged Blackbirds 2 Mockingbirds 3 Goldfinch 6 Field Sparrows 4 Cowbirds 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker.

American Bluebird

I had three hours left and decided to drive to the top of the dam and look over the main lake. The Bluebird above was one of the guards to the parking lot near the main office of the Corps of Engineers. A few other small birds flew off the fences to hunt the lawn surrounding the parking lot.

Cowbirds, Sparrows, Bluebirds and the Pine Warbler (photo below) were busy finding insects in the freshly mowed grass.

Pine Warbler with a moth for breakfast

The commotion over the main body of Sardis Lake kept me busy for the next two hours as I tried to id and count the vast amount of birds. I’ll show the video I took and then list the species I could discern.

39 second video



Hundreds of White Pelicans filled a sandbar and the sky was thick with gulls and terns (like a swarm of mosquitos during a camping trip). The few single photos I took are below.

Double-crested Cormorant joining the crowd

Forster’s Tern hunting the churning waves

Bufflehead keeping a low profile

Pair of Bald Eagles after the same fish

a tired Ring-billed Gull

I was able to identify Herring, Ring-billed and Boneparte’s Gulls. I was also able to id Forster’s and Caspian Terns. The Pelicans and Gulls numbered in the hundreds. 8 Bald Eagles (on the sandbar) would take to the air and scramble the crowd (as seen in the video).

I concentrated on other birds maneuvering the choppy waves. Here are my best guesses at numbers and species that I observed.

24 Hooded Mergansers 8 Common Mergansers 6 Horned Grebe 20 Bufflehead 6 Lesser Scaup 10 Ruddy Ducks.

My time was drawing to close my task and I packed up. There was one more stop on the way home that I wanted to make. A private pond (where the Canada Geese honked earlier during the drive over) usually had ducks adrift.

Canada Geese

I found 8 Mallards snoozing on the dock while the resident domestic fowl waddled along the shore. The people there raise American Pekin and Muscovy ducks as pets and have encouraged Mallard hybrids. Here are the three mixed specimens I saw.

White is a Pekin with two Mallard hybrids

Three Mallard/Pekin hybrids

I had a wonderful time and found my final count was 47 species. I hope my adventure matched your own last of year outings into the birding world.

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