Standifer Gap Marsh, Chattanooga, Hamilton Co., TN A pril 17, 2005 American Bittern, 0 Least Bittern, 3-4, all looked like males, no singing Green Heron, 1 Blue-winged Teal, 14 Purple Gallinule, 0 King Rail, 0 Virginia Rail, 5-6, possible 1 nest under construction Sora, 6-8 Killdeer, 2nd batch of young (4), 2" high The adult with the 4 young gave a continuous alarm which I haven't heard before, sounded something like a bell on an alarm clock, 6-7 dings per second. Another adult 500 ft away made a similar alarm as I approached. Orchard Oriole, 2 orange-black males singing and apparently negotiating territorial boundaries, another orange-black male singing along gravel road. Red-winged Blackbird, est 50+, found my first 6 nests of the season, 1 with 2 eggs, 2 completed, 3 under construction. Saw a female carrying wet nesting material, and 2 nests had wet material included. Five brilliant males pursued one apparently very attractive female all over the south end of the marsh. Mallard/Coot: April 11 I flushed an American Coot from a muskrat mound, checked the mound for a nest and found a female Mallard on 10 eggs. Today I saw a Coot standing on the same mound, right next to the sitting female Mallard. As I approached, the Coot flew away in what appeared to be an attempt to distract me. Kevin Calhoon chased the Coot to be certain it wasn't the Purple Gallinule he found in that area April 10. He flushed it several times, and each time it flew perhaps 50 ft, staying in the cattails. We decided the Coot is somehow bonded to the female mallard and/or her nest. =================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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================