FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Least Bittern--no, but . . . (Greene Co., TN)

["Donald Miller" <pandion@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

August 5, 2006

Wal-Mart Distribution Center (WMDC) (Greene Co., TN)

I got Don Holt's message about the Least Bittern about two hours after the bird 
was sighted.  Within less than a half hour after receiving the word, I was at 
WMDC.

I walked the perimeter of both the first and second ponds, as well as half the 
perimeter of the third pond and the lower end of the fourth pond, but I found 
no Least Bittern.  This is not surprising, as the amount of suitable habitat at 
WMDC is vast, and Least Bittern is one of the most secretive of our eastern 
U.S. species.  I would have been stunned if I had found it.

However, the trip was worthwhile nonetheless, as trips to WMDC nearly always 
are in fall.  The most notable find was a Blue-winged Teal in the third pond.  
Today's date is quite early for this mostly transient species.  In looking at 
my personal records for Greene County, I discovered that August 18 was my 
previous early date for fall.  Rick Knight's The Birds of Northeast Tennessee: 
An Annotated Checklist (1994) shows August  11 as the earliest fall date for 
the five-county region covered by the book.  John C. Robinson's An Annotated 
Checklist of the Birds of Tennessee (1990) shows one East Tennessee fall 
arrival record for August 2 (Roane County).

Also present at WMDC were Wood Duck (1 adult female and four young), Great 
Egret (3), and Bank Swallow.

Nearby, on Highway 348 adjacent to West Greene High School, I found a Eurasian 
Collared-Dove.  August 2006 is the 26th consecutive month that ECDO has been 
observed at this location. 

Donald Miller
pandion@xxxxxxxxxxxxx