3/29/05 Humboldt Gibson Co. Todd Levee Rd. I made a quick dash over to Humboldt today after work, intending to check the large sod complex off of Todd Levee Rd. The sod farm was very quiet, only a few Killdeer, with some Lesser Yellowlegs in the distance in a flooded area. As I continued south on Todd Levee Rd to turn-around, I pulled into a field road going down to a large flooded field in the Forked Deer River bottom. I initially stopped to glass 3 ducks that were swimming in the area (Lesser Scaups), but noticed a few shorebirds wheeling around in the distance. This area is right on the Gibson/Madison Co. line. This area was a treasure-chest of shorebirds. As soon as I looked the area over, it was apparent that it was teeming with shorebirds. Pectoral Sandpipers were literally everywhere, both along the immediate edge of the water, and working the wet field as well. I wound up counting 368 Pec's, though they were moving around so much that I'm sure I missed some in that number. Also working the field were at least 79 Wilson's Snipe. While there were no Yellowlegs or Least at this location, there were two more quality species. I got my 1st American Golden-Plovers of the year here, as 4 of these big boys worked the area, and treated me to that wonderful flight call a couple of times. As much as I enjoyed the Goldens, I was happier still when I picked up the 1st Baird's. As Jeff has mentioned several times, Baird's come through in small numbers in the early shorebird movements in March, and then again during the late April/May movement. I eventually picked up 7 Baird's, my highest spring number. My previous spring encounters with Baird's have been of 1's (like this last weekend along the Mississippi) and 2's, it was pretty neat to see 4 of them standing right together among the Pec's today. I'd love a photo of a spring Baird's, and though they were a little distant anyway, didn't have to worry about that today as I didn't have my camera in the car. They were quiet spiffy in their subtle way, being silvery-buff overall with the big black spots on the scapulars, and a very lightly marked buffy wash across the breast. Definitely a great way to end a bad day at work! Good Birding!! Mike Todd McKenzie, TN Carroll Co. birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx www.pbase.com/mctodd =================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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================