FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Wood Stork, terns, etc. (Cocke, Hamblen, Jefferson Co., TN)

["Donald Miller" <pandion@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

August 19, 2006
[posting date; August 20, 2006]

Yesterday I visited Rankin Bottoms (RB) in Cocke County, stopping briefly at 
the J.M. Walters Bridge along Highway 25-E to check the Jefferson County 
shoreline.  At Rankin, I viewed birds from the railroad track at the entrance 
for about a half hour before meeting Leslie Gibbens and Michael Sledjeski for a 
canoe trip commencing at the tipple parking area.  In addition to canoeing 
Rankin itself, we also checked the Hamblen County shoreline just up the mouth 
of the Nolichuckey River, and we stopped briefly along the eastern shore of the 
French Broad River at the Holttown Road area.  

Numbers below reflect the observations made by the three of us, along with a 
few tallies that I got at the Walters Bridge and along the roads leading from 
there into Rankin Bottoms.  Totals are conservative.

C = Cocke County; H = Hamblen County; J = Jefferson County 

Canada Goose (362 C, 36 H)

Wood Duck (7 C, 3 H)

Mallard (26 C, 6 H)

Blue-winged Teal (1 RB)

Double-crested Cormorant (34 C, 1 J)

Great Blue Heron (17 C, 3 H, 2 J)

Great Egret (115+ C, 11 H, 2 J)

Little Blue Heron (16 immatures C, 1 immature H)

Green Heron (13 C, 7 H)

Black-crowned Night-Heron (22 C)

Wood Stork (1 immature C; the bird appeared at RB as egrets began gathering for 
roosting; it was also observed by Dianne Draper, Don Holt, Tom McNeil, and T.J. 
McNeil, who watched it from the railroad track at the entrance)

Osprey (4 C, 1 J)

Broad-winged Hawk (1 C)

Red-tailed Hawk (1 C)

Semipalmated Plover (2 RB)

Killdeer (250+ C, 51 H)

Lesser Yellowlegs (2 RB, 1 H)

Solitary Sandpiper (5 RB, 2 H)

Spotted Sandpiper (9 RB, 5 H)

Semipalmated Sandpiper (2 RB)

Least Sandpiper (47 RB, 9 C)

Pectoral Sandpiper (22 RB, 4 H)

Short-billed Dowitcher (at least 2 RB)

Forster's Tern (1 RB, still mostly in alternate plumage)

Black Tern (20 or 21 RB, including 1 still in alternate plumage)

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (1 RB)

Belted Kingfisher (5 RB, 2 H)

Great Crested Flycatcher (1 C)

Eastern Kingbird (5 C)

White-eyed Vireo (1 RB)

Northern Rough-winged Swallow (10 C)

Barn Swallow (at least 2 RB)

Gray Catbird (1 RB)

Thanks, Leslie and Michael, for another great Rankin day. 

Don Miller
Greeneville, Greene Co., TN

Donald Miller
pandion@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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