May 22, 2004 Shelby, Dyer and Lake Co. TN When I talked to Mike Todd on Friday evening he decided to stay north and I to the south, my bad. My last words to him were to watch for the terns as it was getting close to Arctic Time. I went to Eagle Lake to work my way south to Ensley. At Eagle, I had a single male Anhinga soaring over the north tree line and upset a King Rail which I think was on a nest as it stayed close to me rattling its feathers and raising a ruckus. I retreated from the area ASAP. The gates were locked at the parking lot as usual so most of the good areas are a long hot hike. On my way south, I got the call from Mike and turned myself around. As Mike has related we searched the area thoroughly for the Gull-billed Tern but no prize and I left there about 8 PM last night to head home. The trip was worth it as I had 3 Whimbrel fly into to the huge field north of 103. When I first picked these birds up in the distance flying, I thought they were hen ducks but they were small and all the Green-wings should have been gone. This is the second time multiple Whimbrel have fooled me into thinking they were ducks at a distance. When they finally turned I saw the sharp wings and the flash off the bills before they landed stretched and disappeared. We flushed a Great Horned Owl out of a skimpy line of trees in the middle of one large field. In searching the area in the afternoon, we found only 1 Caspian Tern on the River along with the 4 Sanderling. After Mike left, I reran the wet holes south of 103 highway and had; Killdeer, 2 Semipalmated Plovers, 1 Greater Yellowlegs to add to the 2 in the field that Mike and I got north of 103, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, 7 Least Sandpipers, 34 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 9 White-rumped Sandpipers, and 1 Dunlin. A hen Greater Scaup was found in the large pool south of 103, victim of the hunting season I would guess. In two other holes farther south on the Great River Road, I had Killdeer, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 1 L. Yellowlegs, 1 Least Sandpiper and 4 Semi-Sands and 6 Semi-plovers, 2 Least and 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers and a single Forster's Tern made the heart race for a minute in the afternoon sun. Total species of shorebirds for the day only 10. 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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================