Oct. 8, 2002 Ensley Bottoms Shelby Co. TN Finally, I got back to Ensley late this afternoon. Found a good number of nervous Wind Birds in tight scattered flocks and suspected a Peregrine lurked. Still a few thousand shorebirds to glean through and of course the great majority are Least Sandpipers. I did manage 10 species including: Killdeer in low numbers, NO Black-necked Stilts (they were here for 7 months and reproduced big time), 1 - Greater Yellowlegs, 84 - Lesser Yellowlegs, 2 - Semipalmated Sandpipers molting to basic, which they normally wait to do on the wintering grounds (getting late for these fellows), 5 - Western Sandpipers almost full basic plumage and 4 were short billed males, oodels of Least Sandpipers, few Pectorals with most slightly molted but one fresh bright juvenile with not a worn feather, 2 near basic plumaged Dunlin with one retaining juvenile tertials (the first since my early bird on 8/18 this year, my earliest record is Aug. 14, a few sneak through very early, then the rest come in on time), 54 Stilt Sandpiper (good numbers all season), 1-imm. Wilson's Phalarope in basic plumage. Four male Ringed-neck Ducks had ridden in on the front for the first migrants of that species for me this season. Duck numbers were up with Wood, Gadwall, Mallards, Blue and Green-winged Teal and Shoveler counted. As I was driving toward the west, I was passed by a streaking dark Peregrine flying at ground level. I knew where it was heading and I swung the truck around just in time to see every Wind Birds nightmare disappear over the levee. What happened next reminded me of a big guy doing a cannon ball in a swimming pool. Birds splashed out in all directions like waves of water over the sides. I assumed the Peregrine made a kill, for when I topped the levee it was not to be seen. Wisps of Wind Birds raced willy-nilly about like wind driven smoke. I now knew the reason for their nervous behavior. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL' COOT / TLBA Bartlett Tenn. =================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 =========================================================