Ensley Bottoms, Memphis TN Friday 08-02-02 When I birded with the Ol' Coot at Ensley Bottoms on Wednesday, we went to a certain place to look for the elusive Painted Bunting. At one point, Jeff started making a rather loud pishing noise. Jeff was making bird-like noises to attract birds. I pretended like this did not impress me, but I am rather new to birding, so it did impress me, and I paid close attention. Then Jeff started making a soft vibrato cooing sound. It did not take very long at all until a Yellow-billed Cuckoo flew to a branch about ten feet from Jeff's head. I admit the notion that Jeff had actually called the bird over to him had startled me. Had the bird atcually responded to his pishing and cooing? Or had the bird landed just by coincidence on the limb near his head, after he had pished and cooed? Was Jeff some kind of magician, or had he just been lucky? Friday after work, I took my birding buddy back to that same place. As we walked along, I started making the pishing sound that I had seen Jeff make. "Pish--sh pish-sh pish-sh...". I was a little self-conscious. I'm new to pishing, but when my friend did not tease me, I decided to do what Jeff had done and "call" the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. ..."coo-oo-oo coo-oo-oo..." I whistled softly. "Coo-oo-oo", then I almost had a heart attack, when a Yellow-billed ( I'm not lying) Cuckoo suddenly broke thru the bushes, flew up and perched on a limb near my head! I am NOT lying! It worked. My friend thought I was a magician. All I did was imitate what Jeff had done, and by golly, it worked! There was the Yellow-billed Cuckoo! I still can't believe it. :-) Robert Fowler Memphis TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- 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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================