The birds won. We heard a million of them, but did we see any? They stuck to the heights of the virgin forest, calling to us, laughing at us as we craned our necks for ten minute intervals, wondering why we toted those darned binoculars at all on a 7.5 mile hike. They teased us with their calls to each other all day. We imagined them flitting about in the trees above the leaves just beyond our visual limits. We thought we heard Hooded Warblers, Ovenbirds, Pine Warblers, Black-throated Green Warblers (hundreds of those), Wood Thrush, Waterthrush (maybe?), Black and White Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos, Blue-headed Vireos, Indigo Buntings, Scarlet Tanagers, etc., and we wished for an expert to be hiking with us to tell us for sure. One little bird ran swiftly across the trail, taunting us. We thought it was an Ovenbird because we had heard so many of them, and it was just the right size, but was it? Finally, at the end of the day, a little bird messed up and flew right in front of us, landing in a tree by the trail. We eagerly fought over what color it was. Blue! Brown! No, gray! Then we saw the nest hanging between two little limbs, with baby heads popping up while mom and dad fed them. Frantically we tore open our bird book, and at last identified a bird! Blue- headed Vireo! Hurray! Cathy Henn Heiskell, 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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================