July 29, 2006 Ensley Bottoms and Mississippi River Shelby Co. TN Even though the wind at ground level was out of the southwest this AM, shorebirds were dropping in and picking up and leaving at the pits. Not a lot of movement but with the numbers present and the way they were acting, quite a few had come in on the midnight express. They were nervous and spread out when I arrived and a Red-tailed got them up in large amoeba like flocks tumbling in the air. I got a few photos of them as they whizzed by. There were 14 species at the pits. On the river, there were small groups of shorebirds scattered everywhere, I added 7 Ruddy Turnstone playing on a rock jetty along with 17 Lesser Golden-Plovers that stopped briefly on Dacus Bar. I had one Sanderling at the pits and 3 on Dacus Bar. There were 3 Greater Yellowlegs at the pits and 2 on the river along with 7 Black-necked Stilts. Two groups of Stilt Sandpipers (3-4) dropped in for a rest at the pits but were soon airborne again and heading south. Total Shorebird species today - 15.......... A big surprise was photographing a Least Bittern perched 12 feet up in a willow tree in a dry area at the pits. On the little sand spit out from Mud Island, that the river keeps inundating and re-exposing, there were over 60 Black Terns in various plumages, adult, immature and transitional. Good Birding !!! Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA 6298 Memphis-Arlington Road Bartlett, TN 38135 =================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 _____________________________________________________________