FreeLists / tn-bird / [tn-bird] Kingston Steam Plant 9/8/02 Baird's and Buff-breasted Sandpipers

[Chris Welsh <cwelsh@xxxxxxx>]

The Knoxville Chapter of TOS had a field trip to the Kingston Steam Plant 
on Sunday afternoon, 9/8/02.  It was a hot, sunny afternoon with little 
bird activity at first, but we found enough shorebirds at the main settling 
pond to keep us busy.

Best birds were a BAIRD'S SANDPIPER and a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER; both 
seen very well through the scopes.  The Baird's in particular provided a 
wonderful opportunity to tick off field marks, including keeping the body 
relatively level and just tipping it's head down when feeding.  The 
Buff-breasted was nicely colored (I would have said golden, but perhaps 
"buff" would be more appropriate), skinny-necked, and very actively feeding 
among Killdeer on the mud flats.

Other notables:
8  Black Ducks
3  Blue-winged Teal
9  Great Egrets
1  Green Heron
2  Black-crowned Night-Herons
1  SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER
~10 Semipalmated Sandpipers
~10  Least Sandpipers
5-10  other peeps
3  Osprey
1  Catbird
1  Pine Warbler
1  Common Yellowthroat

There were good numbers of Killdeer and Mallards.  We tried to turn a 
couple of the peeps into Western Sandpipers, but were unable to do so 
conclusively.  Landbirds were few and far between.  A short jaunt into the 
tall grass of the old field by the ball field produced only one 
meadowlark.  Struck out on grasshopper sparrows and blue grosbeaks.
We gave the Brown-headed Nuthatches at the main entrance a chance to find 
us, but they chose not to.

Chris Welsh
Knoxville, TN

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