Stephen Stedman and I are planning on birding in separate full-day parties in Bledsoe County within a 15-mile diameter circle on Monday, Dec. 29 (rain date is Tuesday, Dec. 30). We are hoping for 2 additional birding parties to do justice to this semi-spontaneous "birding blitz"/"exploratory" CBC. The center will be about 3 miles NNE of Pikeville (to include Ninemile in the northern Sequatchie Valley and the Taft Youth Center in the NW part of the county). The irrationale for this idea developed while we birded the whole day together in Morgan County in late November, finding a respectable 72 species and discovering some interesting birding spots along the way. We recognized that Christmas Bird Counts are great for their year-to-year trends of intensively birded areas. However, vast areas of the state never get intensive birding. So we're looking for help to see what 2-4 parties can turn up using CBC rules in Bledsoe County. If this is successful we might even try it again, but somewhere else! Does anyone know if the Short-eared Owls are at Ninemile? I've found woodcock and screech owl there while waiting in vain for them last year. Anyway, one of us will be there. If you have an interest in participating with us, please contact Steve or me. -Ed LeGrand Cumberland County =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ 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 ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________