Like Bryan Stevens, I had Red-winged Blackbirds in my yard Sunday heralding spring. I also had mating Mourning Doves. At Steele Creek Park, it seemed to be two-for-one day, Sunday. We had two Great Blue Herons, and two Pied-billed Grebes ( including one that spent a lot of time on a log, leaving it briefly to swim with the other grebe, then returning to the same log). We also had two Ring-billed Gulls that apparently got tired of following people in the Mall parking lot to their cars to look for trash after the car leaves. They wheeled around over the lake several times in the afternoon sun. The lake has been drawn down several feet to allow work on the shoreline stabilization project for the next few days. This will be a recurring event at this time of year for the next few years. My subjective impression is that it has stimulated movement of birds that normally would have remained unnoticed around the edges of the lake. It is also an opportunity to study tracks in the mud. There is an awful lot of activity out there, night and day, both birds and mammals. Come check it out! - Don Holt, Central, Carter Co., TN (Assistant Naturalist at Steele Creek Park, Bristol, 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 Chapter TOS, Greeneville 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 jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423)764-3958