Yesterday was a very pleasant day of summer birding, paddling in and around the islets comprising Long Island WMA and nearby coves along the river's south shore, trying to avoid being zorched by lightning, and attempting to gain mastery over my first MP3 player. (Not being accomplished yet at this "playlist" thing, I found myself listening to an odd shuffle of Wang Chung, old Moody Blues, and barefisted, pro-Labor Billy Bragg...) A pontoon boat full of birders pointed out to me a Bald eagle nest, w/ 2 adults and 1 immature, near the top of a steep ridge ~200 feet above the river. Without binox, I could make out the nest and the immature, but only 1 of the adults. Not long after that, as the wind rose on a building thundersquall, EIGHT ospreys lined up to surf the lift generated by the shoreline trees on the upstream-most island. Never have I seen so many ospreys at once, and soaring in place like a row of feathery kites. HOW GLORIOUS!! And I'm probably the last one among us to know that TVA placed lots of tree swallow boxes at this WMA, presumably as a control for the sampling sites on the Emory and in Kingston. Mallard 6+ Double-crested cormorant 10+ adults, 1 imm. Great blue heron 14+ Great egret 1 Green heron 3 Black vulture 1+ Turkey vulture 3+ Osprey 12+ Bald eagle 2 adults (of which I saw only 1), 1 imm. Yellow-billed cuckoo 1 Rubythroat hum 1 Belted kingfisher 1 woodpecker sp. (Flicker, I think) E. phoebe 1 Blue-headed vireo 1 Red-eyed vireo 1 Am. crow 10+ Purple martin 8+ Tree swallow 3+ N. rough-winged swallow 6+ Carolina wren 2 Wood thrush 1 N. mockingbird 1 Yellow warbler 2 Prothonotary warbler 2 Kentucky warbler 1 Common yellowthroat 1 Yellow-breasted chat 1 N. cardinal 3+ Indigo bunting 1 Red-winged blackbird 2+ *** Non-bird animal tale: My patio table has 4 chairs with luxuriously deep cushions on which my cats love to lounge. Many evenings when I come home, at least 1 or more cats are sprawled there, and might perhaps lift a lazy eyelid to acknowledge my arrival. As I came up the driveway in the wee hours of Friday morning, I saw a cat of entirely the wrong color lying on one of the chairs. It looked up with a start, then quickly stood up and hopped off the cushion, showing just a quick flash of hind legs and tummy before disappearing into the dark. It took me a second to process what I'd seen -- IT WAS THE RESIDENT POSSUM! Good summer birding to everyone, Liz Singley Kingston, TN (Roane Co.) =================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 -------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan Clarksville, TN __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________