[Bristol-Birds] Reddish Egret & Rankin canoe trip

20 Jul 2008
Rankin Bottoms, Cocke Co., TN


Members & friends of the Herndon (aka Elizabethton) chapter of TOS
enjoyed a canoe trip in mid afternoon, despite the heat.

Highlights:
REDDISH EGRET - 1, easily seen along the shalows & mudflats;
also visible from shore at the first major opening along the access road.

Snowy Egret - 1, fairly regular here, but not annual
Little Blue Heron - 3 imm
Western Sandpiper - 1, first of season here

also present:
Great Egret - 35+
Green Heron - 5+
Great Blue Heron - 10+
Double-cr. Cormorant - 25+
Spotted Sandpiper - 1
Solitary Sandpiper - 1
Greater Yellowlegs - 1
Lesser Yellowlegs - 3
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 1+
Least Sandpiper - 12+
Pectoral Sandpiper - 1
Ring-billed Gull - 10
Caspian Tern - 1
Forster's Tern - 2
Osprey - 4+
Purple Martin - 3+
Bank Swallow - 5+

By my count, there were 19 of us in 7 canoes, which made it tough to keep
everyone together &  focused on the smaller shorebirds.

Thanks to Don Holt for providing 6 canoes & gear.
Also thanks to Michael Sledjeski & Leslie Gibbens, Don Miller, and others for
joining us.

Rick Knight
Johnson City, TN

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