Sept. 27, 2003 Ensley Bottoms, Mud Island Shelby Co. TN After watching a lot of shorebirds craning their heads around and peering into the sky, I joined Bert Sharpe at TVA Lake and started scanning the skies. The Windbirds were not fibbing, there were raptors racing south. In less than an hour we were treated to 3 small kettles of Broad-winged Hawks that totaled 27 birds, along with an adult and an immature Bald Eagle streaming south together. Other raptor travelers were 1 Osprey, 1 Sharp-shinned, 2 Cooper's, 5 Red-tailed, 2 Red-shouldered, 2 Kestrel and a tardy immature Mississippi Kite. Nine species of raptors, not too shabby for a West TN hawk watch. No telling how many I missed that the Wind Birds tried to point out to me earlier. Later at Mud Island, I had 2 Osprey, another Sharp-shinned, 2 Cooper's and 3 Red-tailed and on I-240 I had another Osprey feeding over a barrow pit. Added bonuses at the Mississippi River from Mud Island were 9 Caspian, 2 Forster's and 1 Common Tern. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL'COOT / TLBA Bartlett, 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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 =========================================================