July 2, 2003 I just got a couple of reports from the far north that we may be seeing the results of now or in the future. One report from the Baffin Island area states that a recent trip up there produced no Ivory Gulls nor Snowy Owls. Apparently the prey population has cycled into collapse mode. Maybe an indication that large white birds may be visiting in numbers during the coming winter. In the Arctic region, winter weather and snow cover hung around and spring showed up 2 weeks late. Then winter weather blew back in recently, hopefully for just a short stay. A lot of shorebirds delayed breeding and from what I've seen a few gave up early and have come back to the sunny warm south early. Here is another habitat update from along the Mississippi River that has made a lot of Least Terns happy and a few farmers. The river has dropped over 10 feet in less than a week! Hopefully no bounce back this time and nesting on the safer sandbars can get back into full swing. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL' COOT / TLBA Bartlett Tenn. =================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 =========================================================