I spent a few hours birding the lower parts of Douglas Lake in Jefferson and Sevier Co, TN on Saturday, 17 Nov 2007. Areas covered were the dam and then pullouts along Hwy 139 up to the Shady Grove area near Dandridge. I haven't checked the lake elevations online but Douglas is as low as I have ever seen it. The French Broad River below the dam was low and stagnant with no visible flow at all coming from the dam. A bass tournament was underway on the lake so lots of boats and few ducks and such. Canada Goose, ~20 Mallard, 5 Common Loon, 11 Pied-billed Grebe, ~10 Horned Grebe, 3 DC Cormorant, 3 Great Blue Heron, several Black-crowned Night-Heron, 28 in the tailwaters below the dam Bald Eagle, 2 immatures near Shady Grove American Coot, ~50 Killdeer, a few Bonaparte's Gull, ~200 Ring-billed Gull, ~300 At the boat put-in off of Flora Rd (off Hwy 139) near Shady Grove, I had a really interesting loon. There were 5 Common Loons up fairly close (about 200yds away) with a smaller, dark bird further out. This bird was actively diving and moving away from me in bad, mid-day light. It would only stay above water very briefly before diving again... barely enough time to relocate and refocus. At first, I couldn't even see any white on the bird. The head was slicked back due to diving but appeared rounded with no steep forehead... more of a smooth transition from bill to head. The bill seem smaller and less bulky than a Common. The bird's body seemed much shorter in proportion to the rest of the bird unlike the really long body of a Common. Finally the bird caught a fish, ate it, and then stayed on the surface preening but unfortunately by this time it was almost a mile away. With the bird finally facing me, I could clearly see white but couldn't make out the pattern of the demarcation between white and black. The bird was just too far away and in too bad light. It was definitely a very dark-backed bird... much too dark for Red-throated. The white on the face was very low (below the eye) and often appeared isolated even making it look like a cormorant's throat pouch or the the white spot on a Brandt's Cormorant. The head always appeared smooth and rounded but didn't have the bulbous, cobra-headed look I have in mind for Pacific. Without getting a clear feel for the demarcation between black and white on the neck, this will just have to go down as too far and too poor light to ID... but definitely an interesting bird. My only experience with Pacific Loon is a few distant birds at Pt Reyes but I remember the demarcation being clear and clean even at that distance. While talking to Mike Todd and Jeff Wilson to get some pointers, I lost track of the bird when it dove and I couldn't find where it came up. About 30-45 minutes later, I finally got on a bird that came in from the direction I last saw the loon. I felt good at first that this was the same bird but when it came closer, it was clearly a Common Loon. Same bird? Not sure. May try again tomorrow if I have time. Dean Edwards Knoxville, TN =================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/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________