[Bristol-Birds] Short-billed Dowitcher, etc. (Greene Co., TN)

From: Alice Loftin / Don Miller <pandion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: TN-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, butternuts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2010 22:49:04 -0400 (EDT)

April 3, 2010 
Greene County: Bridge Burners Boulevard and other points in the western portion 
of the county 

Yesterday evening, while passing through Greene County, David Kirschke phoned 
me to say that he had seen a dowitcher at Bridge Burners Boulevard a short 
while earlier. He indicated that he had studied it carefully for quite some 
time and believed it to be a Short-billed. 

This morning, I visited the site and was fortunate to find the bird again. 
After examining it with my scope at 30x-35x for about ten minutes, I also 
concluded that it was a Short-billed. 

The bird was very dully marked, still mostly in basic plumage. I was able to 
determine the species on the basis of overall body shape (long and pointy, with 
no indication of a humped back), overall pale gray upperparts (showing some 
obviously white feather edgings), streaked face (rather than smooth gray 
feathering), well-defined breast streaking and spotting (rather than smudgy 
gray coloring), well-defined barring on flanks (rather than smudgy markings), 
and thick white barring on the tail (creating a very pale effect, very unlike 
the dark tail of Long-billed Dowitcher). 

Thanks, David, for the heads-up on this bird. It's a rare treat to find one in 
Greene County. 

Also present today: 

Wood Duck (3) 
Blue-winged Teal (10, Bridge Burners Blvd.) 
Green-winged Teal (3, Bridge Burners Blvd.) 
Northern Harrier 
Sharp-shinned Hawk 
Greater Yellowlegs (7, Bridge Burners Blvd.) 
Lesser Yellowlegs (6, Bridge Burners Blvd.) 
Pectoral Sandpiper (12, Bridge Burners Blvd.) 
Wilson's Snipe (5) 
Eurasian Collared-Dove (Town Hall, Mosheim) 
Purple Martin (6) 
Tree Swallow (251) 
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (5) 
Barn Swallow 
Chipping Sparrow (5) 
Savannah Sparrow 
Swamp Sparrow 
White-crowned Sparrow (3) 

Don Miller 
Greeneville, Greene Co., TN

[Bristol-Birds] Short-billed Dowitcher, etc. (Greene Co., TN)

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