Friday evening, 5/21, we put in our canoe at the Rankin Bridge boat launch to survey the the area a mile or so northward. The water here has become Douglas Lake, rather than French Broad River; recent rains have brought the lake close to summer pool level. Under the Rankin Bridge, we saw 550 CLIFF SWALLOW mud nests. Last year, there were fewer than 400 nests. Just downstream, atop the old Rankin Bridge, there were 2 OSPREY nestlings with their parents. About 200 yards farther down, another osprey pair were tending a nest on the west bank. Hearing an oriole song, we paddled behind the osprey nest and found the rest of an unusual mixed community of nesting species. A pair of REDHEADED WOODPECKERS, uncommon in this county, were active around a hole above 50' up in a dead cottonwood. A female PILEATED WOODPECKER, called and peered from a lower hole in adjacent cottonwood. Nearby, a pair of GREAT BLUE HERONS stood at a woody tangle that held 2 nestlings. A couple of trees over, a lone DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT sat on small platform of sticks. A pair of BALTIMORE ORIOLES sang and flew about overhead in the leafy treetops. We weren't able to make out an oriole nest in the canopy. Several CAROLINA CHICKADEE fledglings scampered through the shrubs where a BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER searched for bugs. We paddled on along the east bank, around a D-C CORMORANT rookery with 4 active nests and about 75 individuals, belching like a bunch of well-fed frat boys. We crossed the river and entered the shallow pond about a mile downstream from the bridge. As we entered, 60 or so WOOD DUCKS flew off, and a lesser numbers of MALLARDS and CANADA GEESE soon followed. We heard or saw about a dozen female woodies go into the broken-wing routine, and saw a few groups of ducklings paddle away in a panic. We might not have observed any of them if they had stayed in cover. We also counted 8 BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS, our first of the season, during the float. We also saw 20+ EASTERN KINGBIRDS throughout the area. Michael Sledjeski & Leslie Gibbens Cocke County TN =================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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================