Monday, December 08, 2003 Keebler Rd., Washington Co., TN D. Holt While on my continuing search for Lapland Longspurs this afternoon, I saw a Rough-legged Hawk fly over a bit above treetop level. It looked like a dark form adult female, as illustrated in The Sibley Guide to Birds, pg. 125, except the underside of the body was lighter, and the underside of the tail was darker. Underneath, the dark carpal patches and dark belly band were noticeable, but not much if any white at the base of the tail. The upperside and head were all dark. The bird landed in a tree a few hundred yards away near the Tri-state Equipment barn for a few minutes, where I was able to observe it with a Meade ETX-125 telescope at 73X, but the view was not favorably lighted, the sun being behind the bird. It was last seen circling over the Nolichucky River beyond the barn. As I was starting to leave, I saw a tall bird in the corn stubble field at the intersection of Keebler Rd. and Smith Bridge Rd. It was a Sandhill Crane. I put the scope on it and looked deep into his(?) beady orange eyes, as he was staring straight back at me. He had fresh dirt on his beak, and seemed to be alone. He stayed there while I searched through a flock of Horned Larks for Lapland Longspurs (unsuccessfully), and he was still there when I left an hour or so later at 4:30. He was partly to mostly hidden by a rise in the terrain, but he was actually very close to the road, and seemed unconcerned with traffic going by. Other neat birds seen in the area were American Pipits and Savannah Sparrows at the "dickcissel field" near the intersection of Old State Route 34 and Taylor Mill Rd.( ? I think that is the correct name of the road.). They were bathing in a puddle in a driveway about twenty feet from the road. I also saw a Northern Harrier, American Kestrels, several Red-tailed Hawks, and a flock of possibly ten thousand European Starlings (a most beautiful sight going through maneuvers, poetry in motion). Unfortunately, I failed to find the Greater White-fronted Geese at Westview Pond reported by Don Miller. 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-****