About 17 birders were around Rankin WMA Saturday afternoon (6 Sept) during the KTOS field trip. The water level was a bit higher than expected keeping the birds farther away than we would have liked. A good section of the lake-bed road was still underwater. Despite the lateness in the season, we still managed 10 species of shorebird with the best being a single Buff-breasted Sandpiper and at least one Sanderling. A Peregrine Falcon made a pass through in the mid-afternoon scattering the birds; many didn't return. A single Green-winged Teal was the only non-resident duck. Two juvenile dowitchers were present all day but stayed pretty far away. Eventually we got close enough to get a somewhat decent look at the tertials to call them Short-billed. Rankin Bottoms, Cocke Co., TN Saturday, 6 September 2003 Douglas Lake at ~982ft Double-crested Cormorant - 40+ Great Blue Heron Great Egret - 50+ at Rankin, 20+ at Dutch Bottoms Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Goose Wood Duck Mallard Green-winged Teal - 1 Osprey Peregrine Falcon - 1 Semipalmated Plover - at least 8 Killdeer Spotted Sandpiper - 1 Sanderling - 1, possibly 2 different birds seen separately based on plumage Semipalmated Sandpiper - 5+ Western Sandpiper - 1 late in the day Least Sandpiper - 20+ peep sp. - probably another 50 or more flybys passing through Pectoral Sandpiper - 5+ Buff-breasted Sandpiper - 1 Short-billed Dowitcher - 2 juveniles Belted Kingfisher Pileated Woodpecker Barn Swallow Some non-birds: Reptiles: Northern Water Snake "Ouachita" False Map Turtle Dragonflies: river cruiser sp. Eastern Amberwing Common Whitetail Leps: Cloudless Sulphur Common Buckeye Viceroy, several Least Skipper, only one Chickweed Geometer (moth) at Dutch Bottoms Dean Edwards Knoxville, TN =================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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================