[TN-Bird] Rankin 5/27/05

Most of the Rankin Bottoms Embayment is flooded (Lake level: 986'); we took our 
canoe out there for the first time this year on Wednesday evening.  Our trip 
was delayed when the wind suddenly picked up while we were loading and blew our 
canoe to the opposite shore.  A friend with a big bass boat towed it back but 
we were left with only  90 minutes of daylight.  We paddled back to the pond 
near the gate on the old RR bed and found some shorebirds, including 3 
dowitchers too distant for a definite call on long- vs. short-billed.  The pond 
can be reached on foot by accessing the RR bed trail at the WMA sign at the 
foot of Rankin Hill Rd.
Most notable sightings:

Double-crested cormorant - 100+
Great blue heron - 15
Green heron - 2 (FOS for us)
Canada goose - 200+ (plus about a dozen goslings)
Wood duck - 15
Blue-winged Teal - 60
Green-winged Teal - 4
Osprey - 5
Bald eagle - 3 (1 adult)
Killdeer - 5 (1 male performing courtship display)
Lesser yellowlegs 
Solitary sandpiper - 2
Spotted sandpiper - 2 
Least sandpiper - 40
Pectoral sandpiper - 8
Dowitcher spp. - 3
Ring-billed gull - 4
Eastern meadow lark

Michael Sledjeski & Leslie Gibbens

   
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