That subject line has a nice ring to it, don't you think? I should have told Larry it was an immature, rather than a female, White-winged Scoter, I think. I watched it from beside the observation building at the Boone overlook while it slept, head tucked, near the marina across the lake to the southwest. My fingers nearly froze off waiting for it to show its face! I couldn't see white in the wings at first, but it finally showed both face and wing patterns. When I left, it was hanging (peripherally) with two Black Ducks and several Mallards near the shore. Just before leaving, I was watching a gull as it flew across in front of a sundog, and into the blinding glare of the sun. Just then, my cell phone rang. It was Tom McNeil calling to tell me he had just seen the White-winged Scoter at Middlebrook Lake, and that there was a halo around the sun! After tripping over each other finding the Sage Thrasher, then this, I'm beginning to think we were abducted by the same aliens. Hey Tom, can you hear me now? Oouuu-weee-ouuu, bubba! Don Holt Johnson City, TN ************************************************* BRISTOL BIRDS NET LIST This is a regional birding list sponsored by the Bristol Bird Club to facilitate communications between birders and bird clubs of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. It serves the Russell County Bird Club, Herndon TOS Chapter, Blue Ridge Birders Club, Butternut Nature Club, Buchanan County Bird Club, Bristol Bird Club, Clinch Valley Bird Club and Cumberland Nature Club. -------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed to Bristol-Birds. To post to this mailing list, simply send an email to: bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, send an email to bristol-birds-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the one word 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. -------------------------------------------------- Wallace Coffey, Moderator wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (423)764-****