[Bristol-Birds] Rankin - Scaup, shorebirds, swallows

Rankin Bottoms, Cocke county, 7/3/08
By canoe, 5-8 PM; Douglas Lake elevation: 986.2 ft.
TVA has been drawing down the lake - it's 2 feet lower than it was in mid-June. If it continues, there will be ample shorebird habitat through 2008. Normally, the lake is full well into August - mudflats begin to appear later in the month. In 2007, drawdown began in mid- May; there were broad mudflats on upper Douglas for the rest of the year.
Currently, there's still water across Rankin Bottoms, with mudflats along the fringe. Killdeer are plentiful, and we saw an adult least sppr and a couple of lesser yellowlegs - presumably early migrants.
A scaup seemed out-of-place & out-of season. We couldn't decide if it was greater or lesser, even after blowing up photos, taken from about 200 ft. away, and consulting the profiles in Sibley's Guide. See the images at http://www.pbase.com/sylvafoto/image/99659652 and following.
Tree swallows, harbingers of the southward migrations, were swarming over the water and crowding on treetops.
"Trespass by Permission" signs: A number of white signs have been posted along the Old Railroad Bed road by Johnny Holt, caretaker of the privately-owned section of Rankin Bottoms. He had asked some litterers to take their trash out with them and they chose to argue rather than cooperate. Johnny is rarely there, and hard to contact (his phone # is unlisted) to get the written permission required. I was told that Scott Hollenbeck, the TWRA game warden, approaches anyone he sees on the property and will tell them to leave. I suppose I'll ask Scott for forgiveness and permission if he ever finds me there. 



Partial list:

Wood duck (15)
Scaup spp.
Double-cr. cormorant (25)
Great blue heron (42)
Great egret (65)
Green heron (8)
Black-cr. night heron (10 adult, 8 imm.)
Osprey (14, mostly juveniles)
Bald eagle, adult
Killdeer (110)
Lesser yellowlegs (2)
Least sandpiper
Ring-billed gull (4)
Yellow-billed cuckoo (5)
Downy woodpecker - 1 female; seems to be fewer downies this year
N. flicker
Eastern kingbird
Tree swallow (750)
N. Rough-wing swallow
Tree swallow
Cliff swallow
Blue-gray gnatcatcher (5)
Prothonotary warbler
Blue grosbeak
Orchard oriole

Michael Sledjeski & Leslie Gibbens
Del Rio TN


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