Rankin area, Cocke county, 9/16/06, 5-8:00 PM Douglas Lake elevation: 978.8 - 978.6 We drove south along the old RR bed to the Gate Pond and watched the AMERICAN AVOCET, and about 50 lesser & greater yellowlegs, with Don Holt and friends, and Steve & Rebecca Satterfield. We then launched our canoe from Birders' Point (reached by the trail east from the coal tipple) and cruised along the riverbank shoal. Among the usual shorebirds, we saw a lone AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER, 6 SANDERLINGS, a tight flock of 18 STILT SANDPIPERS, and a GREEN-WINGED TEAL. We went around the point, under the RR trestle, to check out the Ten Islands side of Rankin peninsula. We saw about 40 KILLDEER & 20 LEAST SANDPIPERS in the fresh mudflats west of the trestle. Fifteen WILD TURKEYS foraged below the trees, 30+ GREAT EGRETS & a few GREAT BLUE HERONS waded in the shallows toward the south. Around sunset, the great egrets at Rankin Bottoms flew west, presumably to gather at Ten Islands for the night. This area can be observed from Brown's Hollow Rd. the last left turn before crossing the RR into the Rankin WMA. Mr. Wendell Wilde often accosts and questions strangers in the Brown's Hollow area, but tolerates birders. The road is county-maintained and open to the public as far as the gate at the end. Douglas Lake is lowering rapidly, and is predicted to be at 975' by Tuesday night, the 19th. The shoreline from Birders' Point to old trestle abutment should provide good looks across to the mudflats. Michael Sledjeski & Leslie Gibbens Cocke county TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ 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 ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________