Hi folks, I was happy to be at Newfound Gap each of the last 2 days. And what different days those were, birding-wise. Yesterday I led a Wildflower Pilgrimage birding trip. Sloooooow is the operative word here. Didn't have a lot of species, or individuals. Got nice looks at a couple of common species, which was good for the participants - Black-throated Green Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo and Red-eyed Vireo. Heard a few others. Highlight of the day for me were 2 fly-over Red Crossbills at the Newfound Gap parking lot. Today I got there at 8:30 for some banding. I heard a Barred owl, which is my first up there. Had 2 Red Crossbills again (same ones?) and most exciting, I had a glorious look at my first Blackburnian Warbler of the year. Juncos are everywhere, and a lone (not loan!) Red-breasted Nuthatch tried to sound like it outnumbered us by calling incessantly. Banding was slow, with just a handful of Juncos. Take care, charlie ===== ************************************************** Charlie Muise, Senior Naturalist Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont Townsend, TN lat 35 deg, 38'23" long 83 deg, 41'22" "Up, Sluggard, and waste not life; in the grave will be sleeping enough" - Ben Frankline, Poor Richard's Almanac __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo http://search.yahoo.com =================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 =========================================================