Aug. 30-31, September 1, 2003 Central Ark. and West TN My final weekend species total hit 134 with a Common Nighthawk flying over a shopping center near my home after the long trip. We had gotten Roly Lloyd's list taken care of before we were halfway through the 3 day weekend and gleaned a lot of other goodies in the process. We checked off Upland Sandpiper, Roseate Spoonbill, Golden-Plover, White Ibis, Piping Plover and last but not least Wood Storks for a very successful Aussie Runabout and had great looks at many other great birds mentioned below. We spent less than 2 hours in pursuit of woodland birds over the 3 days, mainly because they were as hard to come by as they could be. The final talley included 9 species of egrets and herons, including an immature Tri-colored Heron at White Lake Refuge and both Night-Herons. Seventy White Pelicans finally made an appearance when Nancy Moore and I made a brief visit to Island 13 after Roly had started on his long journey back to Cincinnati. Eight species of waterfowl were seen while we missed the Ruddy Ducks that over summered at Reelfoot but just would not be found. The usual, but brief, early movement of Pintail Ducks was noted at all water habitat visited. Only Eight species of raptors were seen, including 8 Cooper's in 3 days. The species total on shorebirds hit 24 with single immature Short-billed Dowitcher seen at White Lake Refuge and Everett's Lake in Dyer Co. late Monday afternoon plus Black-bellied Plover at 3 locations, Golden-Plovers at 2 locations, Semipalmated Plovers at every stop and 3 Piping Plovers in view at one time, courtesy of Kenny and LaDonna Nichols. Killdeer were seen in good numbers at every location plus all the fields in between. Black-necked Stilts and young are now found around every corner and the Avocets were as stunning as ever. Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs were recorded in good numbers with Solitary and Spotted sprinkled about. All those regulars were spiced up by crippling views of Upland Sandpipers at 2 locations in TN and Ark and a Marbled Godwit making like a duck while sleeping and blending in quite well with the Blue-winged Teal at Bald Knob NWR. Semipalmated, Western, Least and Pectorals were the base birds at all locations with Baird's and Sanderling playing hard to get but there if you paid attention. All the Sanderling seen at Ensley and Island 13 were molting adults. Stilt Sandpipers were spread around but Long-billed Dowitchers were only seen at two locations but in numbers, while Short-billed immatures were seen as singles, also at two locations. Super close, frame filling views of immature Buff-breasted and Baird's Sandpipers at the pits and Island 13 were near heart stoppers. Wilson's Phalaropes, all immatures, were seen at 3 locations. Ring-billed Gulls, Caspian, Common, Forster's, and Least Terns were just barely out done by 40+ Black Terms that danced over the Mississippi River yesterday afternoon. Flycatchers types were moving through (8 species) with a Yellow-bellied an unexpected bird at Ensley but we missed Olive-sided even after looking at every dead snag along hundreds of miles of back roads. Large flocks of Eastern Kingbirds were seen flycatching all across the area. Purple Martins and all the regular swallows made the list but only 7 warbler species were to be seen with the last two picked up on the bluff at Porter's Gap in Lauderdale Co. late Monday. Only two sparrow species and no orioles made the list. Shorebirds and other waders were the prime targets for the weekend and we were successful in those categories plus we dodged all the rainstorms during birding hours over the weekend. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL'COOT / TLBA Bartlett, 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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================