Feb. 27-28-29, 2004 Pace Point Big Sandy Unit Tennessee NWR Henry Co. TN. The loon bonanza continues at Pace Point. A lot of birders visited this weekend and left with FOUR species of loons for the day and many got 1-2 or 3 Lifer Loons. The Yellow-billed Loon was dubbed "the Monster" and it put on one heck of a show on Saturday. After being seen Sunday morning till almost noon, the wind started howling and the water was white-capping and the bird could not be located. Besides "the Monster", we had 5 different Red-throated Loons (2 molting into alternate with dark throats, 2 immature and a single adult winter plumaged bird) plus at least 2 but most likely 3 Pacific Loons (1 adult winter plumage and possibly 2 immature birds). There were about 180 Common Loons on the TN River side of the Point and 20+ on the Big Sandy side. When roost time came, the Yellow-billed steamed into view surrounded by a pod of Common Loons. It stuck out above the others so much that it looked like a Goose surrounded by goslings. The bird always held its bill up at an extreme angle and the yellow bill flashed in the sun like a golden saber. In many instances the bill reminded me of the exaggerated bill on an Agami. There were plenty of photos taken but most at long distances. I'll post my poor shots tomorrow. Unfortunately the California Gull was only seen on Friday afternoon. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL'COOT / TLBA Bartlett, 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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================