Oct. 23, 2002 Shelby Farms Shelby Co. TN Wapanocca NWR Crittenden Co. Ark. I passed through Shelby Farms a couple of times Wednesday morning and took about 15 or 20 minutes to look around. You can get long panoramic views over the rolling agricultural land and specks high in the sky revealed a movement of raptors. There were the regular numbers of resident and semi resident Red-tailed Hawks plus Turkey Vultures circling but even higher were three different groups catching thermal rides and drifting south. The first group held two Harriers, a Red-tailed and a Sharp-shinned. Again two Harriers appeared from the northeast and then 3 Red-tailed and a Cooper's sailed by. At ground level I came across a Cooper's and another Sharp-shinned. In one of the abandoned fish ponds I watched a couple of Virginia Rails chasing a Sora. Quick bursts of speed and team work finally made to Sora cross over the path and enter another pond. At lunch at the Pyramid Events Center downtown another rout was in progress. A Peregrine had all the downtown pigeons rushing around in bunches. After victory laps over the Pyramid's apex, the bird decided to rid the Mississippi River bridge of its pigeons and made strafing runs through the iron work. It all looked more like a bored Peregrine than a hungry one. A late afternoon trip into Arkansas produced nothing but harvested rice fields, so I made a run through Wapannoca NWR. Again I picked up 4 very high flying Harriers and a Cooper's Hawk. The most interesting migration was at ground level as small Broad-banded Water Snakes were crossing the main levee road. Every one was going from west to east. On the first pass I noticed many of the tiny snakes had been run over but really didn't think much of it. After a brief scan of the lake, I returned and driving slowly started a survey. I hurried the small fry across the road as trucks and cars were passing regularly. Those that were hunkered down in the gravel thinking they were invisible were picked up and put to the east side in the weeds. In 1.2 miles of levee there was an even distribution of these snakes that were only 6 to 12 inches long. I ended up with a count of 19 dead and assisted 17 in crossing on just one pass. Upon returning I helped 6 more cross plus one adult about 2 foot long and a really sleek, black Cottonmouth about 2-1/2 foot long. I have a few shots of these low migrators if anyone is interested. 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 =========================================================