Birders, It's that time of year again!! We are continuing our state-wide breeding survey of wading birds. Great Blue Herons are on eggs or already have chicks! We have been collecting information for several years and are hoping to continue collecting information on rookeries across the state. We have information on nesting sites from 2008 and earlier here: http://bellsouthpwp.net/w/i/windbird/index.htm. I am planning on updating this with all information submitted on rookeries from 2009-2011 on a new page on the Tennessee's Watchable Wildlife web site (www.tnwatchablewildlife.org) this summer (development is currently underway). If you have participated in a survey for us in the past, please contact me if you are able to check on those rookeries again (I hope you can!). Also, if you know of or find a heronry (whether it is 2 pairs or 200 pairs) and don't know whether we are aware of the location, please contact me and we will coordinate monitoring of the site. I have included a link to a fairly self explanatory data sheet on the home page of the Tennessee's Watchable Wildlife web site (first bullet under the intro text). http://www.tnwatchablewildlife.org The form is a PDF which can be saved on your computer. The form can be printed out and sent snail mail or can be scanned and emailed or faxed. If you happen to have a full version of Adobe Acrobat, you can edit in the information, save, and send via email, but I suspect most folks do not have the full version of Adobe. If you do not have a full version or are uncertain, it would be best to print and write in the information. If you do not know the nesting colony name or number, do not worry. I will help you out. The colony name is typically the location, island, etc. where the rookery is located. Surveying the sites twice is ideal, but not always possible with everyone's busy schedules. Ideally we will check on rookeries in early to mid-April and again in May, but if only one survey can be done, conducting it from mid-April to mid-May will be optimal to gather information on the early nesting Great Blue Herons and the later nesting species. Making multiple visits to a site is better though! Although we are interested in all rookeries, I am especially interested in nesting locations of Double-crested Cormorants. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at scott.somershoe@xxxxxxx Many thanks! Scott Somershoe State Ornithologist Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency P.O. Box 40747 Nashville, TN 37204 615-781-6653 (o) www.tnwatchablewildlife.org www.pbase.com/shoeman =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA -------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan Clarksville, TN __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________