Big Sandy Unit, Tennessee NWR, Benton/Henry Co. TN. I took my wife on her first visit to Pace Point Saturday, and after regaling her with stories about all of the waterfowl and eagles we would see, Pace did not disappoint! Gunshots crackled all around us at Britton Ford, which kept the ducks moving around quite a bit, but we still managed to get great looks at Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, American Black Duck, Gadwall, and few other goodies. We encountered one of the largest flocks of bluebirds I have ever seen, and they were feeding on the ground among several Pipits and Lapland Longspurs. Once we got to Pace Point itself, things got very interesting. We set up the scope behind the maintenance shed, and had all three Mergansers in the bay to the east. Common and Red-breasted were in the same scope view and allowed for awesome comparisons. Also represented were up to a thousands Ring-necked ducks, along with lesser numbers of Bufflehead, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Canvasback, and Mallard. Three eagles took turns harassing the ducks, and a coyote foraged along the shore. At the point itself, we found Jeff's enormous flock of gulls, and more just kept coming in as we scanned. Unfortunately I don't have the letters "tlba" after my name and couldn't pull anything rare out of the Ring-billeds and Bonaparte's. The bay just before the reaching the point itself yielded several more Red-breasted Mergansers, a huge flotilla of Ruddy Ducks, and several displaying Common Goldeneye. A large flock of turkey near the eagle roost rounded out the day. A wonderful leisurely day of birding, along with several life-birds for my wife, all but guaranteed we will be back to this magical place! Michael SmithGallatin, TN _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web! =================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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================