Birders, We have been blessed with big flocks of birds over the last couple of months. We easily count 45 Purple Finches on our feeders and the ground around with others probably nearby. We have easily had 300 Goldfinches. The air is just full of all the comings and goings. For several days we had 25 Chipping Sparrows on the ground, more of those than we have seen at once before, plus a dozen white throats, 2 Song and one Fox Sparrow. We have also had both Kinglets, a resident Phoebe who stays around when the deer come to pick up grain under our feeders and he seems to glean insects from them, a Hermit Thrush, a Brown Creeper, a few Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers, and the other consistent regulars. In the last couple of weeks we have had l00 or so Robins and 40 Cedar Waxwings cleaning up the Privet berries along our drive and the road below. Yesterday we had the first returning migrant which we did not particularly welcome - a Brown Headed cowbird male landed on a feeder. But anyway, soon the others will be here. We also enjoyed tremendously seeing the Whoopers at Winchester a few weeks ago. Good birding to all. J. N. Howard South Pittsburg, Tn. =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the count 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 _____________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp _____________________________________________________________