Tn. NWR Big Sandy Unit Henry Cnty Melissa Easly, Jerry Ingles, Jeff Wilson and I had the unique privilege of viewing four loon species today. And if that was't enough, the only thing we had to move was the swivels on our scopes. We set up just to the west of Rocky Point and just I was getting ready for my first look, Jeff announced "Red=throated". In what seemed like less than a minute of viewing it Jeff said "Pacific, off to the left". For awhile both could be viewed in the same field. A passing boat scattered the birds and a minute or so later an obviously larger loon surfaced. Due to hazy light and distance there was some uncertainty what we were looking at. The light improved and as field marks began to be ticked off, we were all thrilled to know we had an immature Yellow-billed Loon in our scopes! We studied this bird for more than an hour under conditions of almost no wind, fairly smooth water and great light. It stayed above water the whole time. You would have had to slapped us to get grins off our faces. Jeff must have taken a hundred pictures, the best of which I'm sure will be available for those interested. Once again, Big Sandy has worked it's magic! Gary Casey Kingston Springs, Tn. Talk and walk softly, carry a big scope. =================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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================