Sept. 13, 2003 Ensley Bottoms Shelby Co. TN Spent most of the day at the pits. It was as good as it gets with Least Sandpiper numbers growing and growing with the rain putting a lot of spice in the mix. I ended the day by lucking up and jumping the only Solitary Sandpiper for the day as I drove out that put the shorebird list at a grand 20 species. The immature birds are really eye candy, there are young of every species and their plumage's are beautiful to say the least, not to mention how variable they are. The numbers of every species went up from earlier in the week. A single Black-bellied Plover was a stunning adult only slightly molted and lots of toy like Semipalmated Plovers running around. The rain evidently put a bunch of travelers down, Black-necked Stilts (21 adults-28 immature), Greater Yellowlegs -4, Lesser Yellowlegs -73, Willet -1, Sanderling -2 immature, Semipalmated Sandpipers -74 -all immatures, Western 35, NO Baird's?, Pectoral -150 plus, Stilt Sandpipers -33, Buff-breasted -1, Short-billed Dowitcher - 1 immature, LB Dowitcher -3 immature, Wilson's Snipe -1 was first for me of the season and two immature Wilson's Phalaropes, apparently by size a male and female. The best study, between the rain that sifted through, was the short push of Semipalmated Sandpipers, that we get late in the season, some have exceptionally short (as short as the Least SP bills so most must be males) and thin bills. Every year, about this time, I run into my first of the season and really come up short. The bills are not as thick and average much shorter as compared to the birds that come through earlier. There is a cline of bill lengths that runs across their breeding areas in the North and these birds that come through late must have gotten the short end of the stick. The Westerns were in a wide array of attire from neat as a pin fresh immatures, immatures in varying degrees of molt, to full basic plumaged birds and bills that ran the gamut of lengths. 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 =========================================================