A Ruddy Turnstone and two early-season Common Loons captured the spotlight this morning (9/15) as the stormy cold prepared to leave Tennessee and dropped many birds at Musick's Campground, South Holston Lake, Sullivan Co., TN. The frontal passage brought significant flights of terns, teal, shorebirds and swallows to this Southern Applachian Mountain impoundment, now at 1722 feet reservoir elevation. Rack Cross, Wallace Coffey and Rick Knight were onhand for the observations and count. The species and numbers included: Common Loon 2 Great Blue Heron 1 Great Egret 5 Green Heron 1 Blue-winged Teal 200 (minimum estimate) Northern Shoveler 1 Semipalmated Plover 5 Kildeer 2 Lesser Yellowlegs 41 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Ruddy Turnstone 1 Western Sandpiper 1 Least Sandpiper 4 Common Terns 32 Black Tern 25 Belted Kingfisher 1 Tree Swallow 100 (minimum estimate) The much-anticipated arrival of the cold front was realized after the barometric pressure started falling between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday (9/14). Rack Cross, Coffey and Sam Cross were in the bogs at Shady Valley, Johnson County, when the leading edge arrived at 5:15 p.m. and the wind increased to 15 mph. Cloud cover continued to move in from the west and a light shower began at about 8 p.m. In the last hours until daylight Monday, the front brought its last heavy rainfall just before 6 a.m. We had carefully covered Musick's Campground twice Sunday afternoon and, before nightfall, the day's birds were Caspian Terns 5, Lesser Yellowlegs 6, Great Egret 2, Killdeer 1, Osprey 1. We now had a baseline on birds present. The stage had been set for a nice fallout. We would be back early Monday to harvest the promise. The front kept its word. Let's go birding..... Wallace Coffey Bristol, TN ************************************************* BRISTOL BIRDS NET LIST 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. It serves the Russell County Bird Club, Herndon TOS Chapter, Blue Ridge Birders Club, Butternut Nature Club, Buchanan County Bird Club, Bristol Bird Club, Clinch Valley Bird Club and Cumberland Nature Club. -------------------------------------------------- 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-****