Least Bittern Summer Summary: Found 1st of 5 active nests at Standifer Gap Marsh (Chattanooga, Hamilton County) June 21, found the last one July 22, last young left nest about August 15. Total eggs/young 22, total young apparently fledged about 18. Adult pairs at least 8. In addition to the 5 active nests I found 5 old nests. I first assumed they were from previous years, but now I strongly believe they were active earlier this year. The 5 active nests have disintegrated very rapidly and completely soon after the young left; it doesn't seem possible that last year's nests would have survived the winter,- most of them disintegrated within 2 to 3 weeks after I found them. If the 5 older nests were active this spring/summer that would mean at least 10 active nests this season. Wow! Haven't seen any Least Bitterns since about August 15 except one juvenile September 1. This one looked like an adult female except for a few tufts of down. It could fly only about ten feet, weakly. It took about 4 hours wading to find the one bird, and I found it only because I almost ran into it, and I couldn't locate it again even though I walked directly to the place it landed. These guys are good at hiding. It could well be that there are as many as a dozen or two walking around there silently. Adults may be molting or gone. Yellow-crowned Night Heron: One juvenile stayed in our yard or neighbors' yards (Ooltewah, Hamilton County) August 19 thru 27, usually walking on mowed lawn near the edge of the woods. Frequently we would see it early morning under the same tree as the previous evening. Only once was it at the small pond next door, at noon. Barred Owl: One flew from Wolftever Creek to a nearby empty parking lot and perched on a tall pole above a security light for 20 minutes or so, then flew in the direction of White Oak Mountain. September 4, about 8 PM, intersection of Ooltewah-Ringold Rd and Apison Pike, Collegedale. We rarely see or hear of Barred Owls in this area, including SG Marsh and Brainerd Levee. David and Gloria Patterson Ooltewah, Chattanooga Hamilton County Sep 9, 2004 =================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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================