The 65th consecutive Elizabethton Spring Bird Count was held on Saturday 26 April 2008 (but not compiled until 6 May). 30 members of the Herndon Chapter of TOS split into 7-8 parties and spent 83 party hours plus 8 nocturnal hours counting birds. The coverage area included Carter County and parts of adjacent Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi, & Washington Counties. Observers tallied 9801 birds of 151 species. This is above the recent 30-year average of 144.6 species. The all-time high for this count is 161 species found in 2005. Over the long run of this count 239 species have occurred. Notable sightings: N. Shoveler - 2 Lesser Scaup - 18 Bufflehead - 12 Red-br. Merganser - 5 Ruffed Grouse - 2 Com. Loon - 7 Am. Bittern - 1 Great Egret - 1 Yellow-cr. Night-Heron - 5 Osprey - 16 Red-shouldered Hawk - 2 (scarce in NE Tenn.) Virginia Rail - 1 Western Sandpiper - 1 Am. Woodcock - 1 Eur. Collared-Dove - 1 N. Saw-whet Owl - 2 Red-headed. Woodpecker - 3 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 2 Loggerhead Shrike - 1 Warbling Vireo - 5 Com. Raven - 9 Brown Creeper - 6 Hermit Thrush - 1 Am. Pipit - 40 warblers - 26 species, including Golden-winged - 2 and Swainson's - 3; good numbers of breeding warblers were found, such as Black-thr. Blue - 118, Black-thr. Green - 149, Ovenbird - 169, & Hooded - 188. Grasshopper Sparrow - 2 Pine Siskin - 32 ------------------------------------------- As always, a few species were missed. This year the species missed included: N. Bobwhite (none since 2003) Barn Owl Com. Nighthawk Swainson's Thrush several warblers - Blue-wg., Tenn., Cape May, Cerulean (none since 2002), & Prothonotary. Summer Tanager -------------------------------- Rick Knight -- non-participating compiler (I went to the TOS meeting in Memphis.) Johnson City, TN =================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/ 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 _____________________________________________________________