I wanted to pass along an announcement for an upcoming Knoxville-TOS field-trip to Rankin Bottoms in Cocke County, TN, on Saturday, 23 August 2003. Hope to see a lot of folks out there. Hopefully water levels will be on schedule and prime for shorebirds that weekend though last week's rains had the lake rising this past weekend instead of dropping. BTW, for those not familiar with our normal meeting spot, Cedar Bluff Road (mentioned in the announcement) is off of I-40/75 in West Knoxville (forget the exit number). The Stokely Building is the large white office building at the intersection of Executive Park and Cedar Bluff, just north of the interstate beside McDonald's. Dean Edwards Knoxville, TN ------- Saturday, 23 August 2003 Rankin WMA, Cocke Co., TN Leader: Dean Edwards (560-9701, cell: 660-9701) We will meet at the Stokely Building on Cedar Bluff Road at 12 noon. The drive to Rankin Bottoms from here is approximately 1 hour. We will stop at the Hardee's at Exit 417 on I-40 in Dandridge around 12:45-1:00 as a secondary rendezvous point and for a last-chance food and restroom break. Michael Sledjeski and Leslie Gibbens of the Rankin Project (founded to help preserve and protect Rankin Bottoms) will be on-hand to offer canoe tours later in the day. Rankin is remote and open with little shade and no food or restrooms nearby. Some of us will likely stay until sunset when the waders come to roost. Bring plenty of food and drink, shoes you can get muddy and sunscreen. There will be little walking; lawn chairs can be very useful. A scope is required to see many of the birds but there should be plenty on-hand to share. We typically have well over 50 people on this field trip. The trip is planned to coincide with the drawdown of Douglas Lake to levels which provide excellent habitat for migrating shorebirds including Black-bellied Plover, American Golden-Plover, Sanderling, dowitchers, Stilt, Buff-breasted and Baird's Sandpipers and many other more common species. Past trips have also found Ruff, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Willet, and Wilson's and Red Phalaropes. In addition to shorebirds, we should find many species of herons, egrets, ducks, terns and swallows as well as Willow Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo and Prothonotary Warbler. In past years, we have had Peregrine Falcon, Bald Eagle, and White Ibis. =================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 =========================================================