4/27/03 McKenzie vicinity (Henry & Carroll Co.) I spent about 5 hours out this morning, covering my usual local haunts. It was a great morning to be out in the woods and fields around home, with 91 species seen or heard. Of these 22 species were warblers, if you count Chat among them. I had 5 species of vireos, still waiting on a Philly though. Of these: Warbling, Yellow-throated, and Blue-headed were all singles. Surprises of the morning were a calling Black-billed Cuckoo in the Clear Creek bottom just southeast of McKenzie, Least Flycatcher in the Obion River bottom south of McKenzie, and Swainson's Warblers in 3 locations. 2 of these locations were new for me, with 1 being my 1st Carroll Co. record. My usual Swainson's was singing away, but I will be surprised if the other 2 hang around, as both are in areas I bird fairly regularly, and have never had Swainson's in either. One area is an upland, very atypical location for Swainson's. I was sitting on the edge of the road, trying to locate a close-by Hooded singing from a thick, shrubby area, when a Swainson's song cut loose from nearby. Given the location, I almost couldn't believe what it was, although the song was perfect. Eventually the bird came into view, allowing me to satisfy myself that it was indeed a Swainson's, I guess even these denizens of dark woods need a change of pace every once in a while! FOS birds for the day were: Yellow-billed Cuckoo (2) Black-billed Cuckoo (1- only my 3rd local record with a lot of time spent in the field) E. Wood-Pewee (several) Acadian Flycatcher (3) Least Flycatcher (1)- which along with E. Kingbird, Great Crested and Phoebe, giving me 6 flycatchers for the day Magnolia Warbler (1) Ovenbird (1) Grasshopper Sparrow (1 field, with at least 2 singing) Warblers seen/heard: Tennessee Warbler (4) Nashville Warbler (several) N. Parula (many) Yellow Warbler (several) Magnolia Warbler (1) Yellow-rumped Warbler (several) Black-throated-Green Warbler (2) Yellow-throated Warbler (2) Pine Warbler (1) Prairie Warbler (many) Palm Warbler (several) Black-and-white Warbler (1) Prothonotary Warbler (many) Worm-eating Warbler (1) Swainson's Warbler (3 locations) Ovenbird (1) N. Waterthrush (2) L. Waterthrush (several) Kentucky Warbler (many) C. Yellowthroat (many) Hooded Warbler (several) Yellow-breasted Chat (many) I checked on the Lark Sparrows, and heard, but didn't see, a Lark Sparrow singing in the same general area they've been for the past several days. Don Manning informed me that he finally got a good look at the Lark Sparrow near his house, in the general area they usually use. Also, he has seen another Lark this week between McKenzie and Huntingdon. I'm starting to wonder if Lark Sparrows are really that scarce! If anyone's interested I've posted a couple of nest shots I took today, of a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher nest and a Tree Swallow poking it's head out of a cavity. These shots are posted in a new photo album, "Nests" at :http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=330&groupID=116215&folderview=&ck= . =================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 =========================================================