April 6, 2007 Shelby Forest Ensley Bottoms Shelby Co. TN Is-40 Chute Crittenden Co. AR Mike Todd and I took Jamie Simmons, an Oregon birder in town for business but had a little time, to look for a few eastern species for his list. The 20+ degree drop in temps over the last few days accompanied by a brisk breeze did nor dampen our will. We had a good day in the field with jaw breaking looks at some of our target species. Multiple Hooded Warblers in the sun out in the open at 10-15 feet are always show stoppers but 4 Prothonotary Warblers, 3 males chasing each other around in a sun lit tree, perching just 4 and 5 feet above our heads posing for photos, while a female urged on the contest was a spring FOS winner for sure. We had more Yellow-throated Warblers and Parula than you could count with many singing all around us a times. Yellow-throated Vireos were well represented and we lucked up on a FOS, single Broad-winged Hawk that gave us great looks as it circled over our heads at tree top level. Other raptor species enjoyed on the day were Red-shouldered in display flights and at a nest, 3 Bald Eagles over the bottoms (an adult and 2 immature birds), Kestrels, a single Osprey at Ensley, a Cooper's Hawk, and a bunch of Red-tails kiting in the breeze over the MS RV. Both Turkey and Deer played hide and seek with us, as Fish Crows and Common Crows were cooperative over the day with Barn, Rough-winged and Tree Swallows, all perched together out in Poplar Tree Lake. A pair of Phoebes were building a nest at a water gate structure but the best bird of the day and very unexpected, was an adult Little Blue Heron!! After delivering Jamie to the Airport, Mike and I had to run by the pits and really had a pleasant surprise in finding more Wind Birds than we had time to search through. A quick run through yielded, Killdeer, 11 Black-necked Stilt, 12 Greater Yellowlegs, 144 Lesser Yellowlegs, 69 Solitary Sandpipers, 472 Least Sandpipers, 281 Pectoral Sandpipers, 1 Dunlin in basic plumage, 1 Long-billed Dowitcher and 7 Wilson's Snipe. Over all a great day of CHILLY BIRDING yielding 92 species and migration has just started.......... Good Birding !!! Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA 6298 Memphis-Arlington Road Bartlett, TN 38135 What is this feathered thing that lifts my heart to the heavens. ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. =================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 __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________