On June 14th at 7:30 am I found a male HOODED MERGANSER in the area of Campbell County, TN known as Doaks Pond/ (TVA area) Hooded Merganser is unusual in this area in Summer. I looked for a female, even returning about 5:00 pm to search again, but I did not see one or any evidence of breeding even though there are several Wood Duck boxes around the pond providing an opportunity. He was in the company of Wood Ducks. From this location I birded the rest of the day up into KY. Even though this is TN bird line, I wanted to report what I thought was a very large population of GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS. They were near the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park boundary in an apx. 2 - 3,000 acre pasture/older strip mine/ mountaintop cove type area. I stopped counting at SIXTY TWO birds just driving around the area, and I am sure the population could easily be as high as 100 if a density population survey were done. Also, breeding Horned Larks..nearly stepped on a nonflying young! I can give exact directions/ GPS to anyone interested. Gorgeous place and well worth a drive up there. The habitat is reminiscent of western prairie lands. Nell Moore jimimoore@xxxxxxxx Caryville, TN CampbellCounty, 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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================