I am glad I finally headed South to Ensley Bottoms to look for the Mottled Duck. Wish it had not been so windy. When I arrived at the TVA lake I was able to quickly find a darker bird amongst the Mallards. Unfortunately it was asleep facing away from me. Occasionally, it would lift its head and look around and go back to sleep. A Mallard Hen kept coming and standing in front of the dark duck and block my view. Finally, the Mallard hen just came up to the dark duck and took its bill and head and shooed the Mottled duck away and then it decided to move about and then go for a swim and bathe. Was able to get great looks at the field marks. Very apparant the bird was darker and the pattern on the feathers was so obvious. The olive yellow bill and dark spot on the gape was easily seen . And once it started moving about and preening I was able to see the color of the speculum . I was approached by the The security from the TVA steam plant. She was pleasant and asked what I was doing and if I was taking any pictures. She said as long as I was not taking pics it was ok to be there. She said she was being more lenient now on the birders. After Jeff arrived we went over to the Earth Complex and had great looks at the Western SP, Stilt SP. an abundance of Least SP and finding the Bairds and then the Buff Breasted was a real treat. We had a Broad wing hawk fly over. Had seen the rats on the Island on a previous visit and its nice to know now that GReat Blues include them in their diet. The Earth Complex is a marvelous place to look at Shore birds. Endsley Bottoms TVA Lake Shelby Co MEmphis , Tn Nancy Moore Bluebasin Cove B&B Reelfoot lake Lake Co, 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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================