Jan. 6, 2007 TVA Ponds- Ensley Bottoms, Shelby Co. TN, Tunica Co. MS I spent some time with a birder that I had met once before last January at the TVA Ponds. At that time we had a Peregrine put on a great show for us, hunting over the ponds. That bird was a small anatum type male and a lifer for him. Yesterday at TVA, while we were talking, I looked over his shoulder and spotted another Peregrine streaking in to perch on one of the towers, now only his second sighting. This bird sat long enough for a few photos, showing it to be an immature male tundrius. The extreme stripped head pattern and transitional plumage were really confusing, plus seeing a band on one leg, made me think for a while it might have been an escaped falconer's hybrid. We watched as it harassed a Red-tailed Hawk and then did a long sloping dive on some unlucky critter over near the pits. Two birders meeting at TVA Lake and 2 Peregrines almost exactly one year apart; pretty good timing I would say!!! The Marsh Wren still responds to phishing and just a couple of Yellow-rumps hang out in the Phragmites. Scopeing through the ducks at TVA, we came up with the following: 3100 Lesser Scaup, 54 Greater Scaup, 116 Ring-necks (mostly females, must have been boys night out), 6 Canvasback, 5 Redhead, 1 male Hooded Merg, 3 Mallard, 5 Gadwall, 7 Shovelers, 2 male Green-winged Teal, and 5 hen Buffleheads. Also present were 6 Pied-billed Grebes, American Coots and 21 DC Cormorants. One Bonaparte's Gull was mixing in with the constantly turning numbers of Ring-billed Gulls. I photographed 23 Great Egrets, that were fishing in one group at Robco Lake; that's a high number for me in January in Tennessee. The lighting was terrible on the lake but there were 54 Canvasback in one pod. Around this time of the year, Canvasback numbers grow as indicated by over 200 seen at Arkabutla Lake that morning in Mississippi. I sorted through thousands upon thousands of Ring-billed Gulls spread over H---'s Half Acre in Tunica Co, and came away with just one third year Herring. Lots of raptors, waterfowl and Sandhill Cranes but I was having a gull attack. I need to get to Pace Point or Pickwick soon. 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 _____________________________________________________________