On Thursday I joined Charlie Muise for a naturalist visit to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of east Tennessee (Blount County). He was leading a group with the Smoky Mountain Institute at Tremont, looking for wetland beetles, while I was concentrating on dragonflies and butterflies, but we of course kept our ears open for birds as well. Didn't make it to the sewage lagoons so we missed the birds that Jean Alexander reported on this list. Best birds were 3 WILD TURKEY and 2 or 3 AMERICAN WOODCOCK. I found the woodcock while walking in the wooded area around Abrams Creek, across from the entrance road to the Abrams Falls trailhead parking area (area called the "Old Field"). There's an unmown field to one side, Abrams Creek on the other, with a sometimes wet, wooded area in bewteen. I've heard woodcock displaying in this area at other times of the year. Also heard a BROWN CREEPER in the Gum Swamp. Best non-bird were the Dragonhunters (dragonflies)...very large clubtail dragons that fly with their 'tails' curved down and forward, in a "J" shape. Also saw 2 black bear near Sparks Lane. David Trently, Knoxville, TN http://web.utk.edu/~dtrently/AvianPursuits.html =================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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================