Musick's Campground - S. Holston Lake, Sullivan Co., TN April 27, 2008 9:00am - 10:15am John Moyle mentioned in his earlier report that we saw another Sandpiper Species with the Sanderling, but that it flew off before we could ID it. However shortly after John drove off, the Sanderling and its unknown companion landed nearby. I spent 20 minutes looking at this bird making sure of my ID. Taking everything into consideration I believe that this bird was a Baird's Sandpiper. Thanks to Rick Knight's The Birds of Northeast Tennessee I realize that this would be a very unlikely sighting, so let me present my case. 1. The flight feathers extended past the tail feathers. 2. The Bill was very black from base to tip, like the Sanderling. 3. The legs were black. 4. Similar size as the Sanderling 5. My first impression was Pectoral SP because of the breast markings, but they seemed to end higher up. A google search of Baird's SP photos revealed a few that looked the same on the breast, such as the photo at this address (sorry I didn't take any photographs). http://www.flickr.com/photos/deinandra/1281841355/ 6. The bird also vocalized once when taking flight. I remember it as a high pitched trill. Using the song samples on the Cornell site, the vocalizations were not at all like a Pectoral SP, but very similar to a Baird's SP. This would be a lifer for me, but after lots of work I feel confident of the ID. David Hunt Gray, Washington Co., 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/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________