Mike, Thanks for your reply. I agree with your points below. I saw one of the Bombay Hook Little Egrets 4-5 years back. If that guy didn't have the nuptial plumes (actually it only had one when I saw it) I don't think I could have called it, even though I went to a very well-defined spot to see a bird that many others had already identified. I did look at the other field marks, and was able to convince myself I saw them but had I not been looking.... no way. Charlie Charlie - That bird took some twists and turns before all was done. Audrey Hoff and I thought we were there too late to see the bird, but it was reported at one of the pools and we went up and scoped it. I kept waiting for it to pick a foot out of the water to show the golden slippers, because something about that gray bill didn't look right, although there were 10-15 other scopes with people all lined up and counting it. By now it had "lost" the other nuptial plume. I finally looked at Audrey and whispered, "Sure looks like an immature Little Blue to me." She nodded and we quietly departed, not wanting to disparage so many others of such a great bird for their lists. James Brooks =================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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================