Sat., 13 MAR 2004 Rankin Bridge, Douglas Lake, Cocke Co., TN D. Holt On my way to Rankin Bottoms Saturday morning I saw an Osprey sitting on the well-known nest atop the old iron bridge just downstream of the current Rankin Bridge. After a few minutes a second Osprey approached carrying a branch, and landed beside the first Osprey, who began vocalizing. They sat together a few minutes, and then the second bird flew off, appearing to be hunting over the river. For a while, my attention was diverted by at least nine Cliff Swallows flying around the bridge I was standing on. I could clearly see their squarish tails, pale rumps and dark throats, but I didn't hear any calls. Then I noticed an Osprey on a tree downstream of the iron bridge on river left. At first I thought it was the second Osprey, but soon the second rejoined the first on the nest, so there were three Osprey within sight. Other spp. seen near the bridge and in Rankin Bottoms were: Great Blue Heron, Wood Duck, Canada Goose, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Kildeer, Common Snipe, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler. In the afternoon I went to Dutch Bottoms and saw another Osprey land on the nest on the second silo. Don Holt Johnson City, TN ************************************************* BRISTOL BIRDS NET LIST Bristol Birds Net Photo Gallery located at: http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jwcoffeyy/album?.dir=/efd5 This is a regional birding list sponsored by the Bristol Bird Club to facilitate communications between birders and bird clubs of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. -------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed to Bristol-Birds. To post to this mailing list, simply send an email to: bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, send an email to bristol-birds-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the one word 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. -------------------------------------------------- Wallace Coffey, Moderator wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (423)764-****