August 27, 2006 [posting date: August 28, 2006] Rankin Bottoms and vicinity (Cocke Co., TN) A few members of Greeneville TOS were joined by several other regional birders at Rankin Bottoms yesterday afternoon. Present in one group were Rob Biller, Dianne Draper, Jim Faunce, Leslie Gibbens, Don Holt, Jim Holt, Ron Lapp, Rose Lapp, Don Miller, Michael Sledjeski, and Allan Trently. A Knoxville-area contingent included Boyd Sharp, Gail Clendenen, and Steve Clendenen. (There may have been others present as well. Please accept my apologies If I omitted anyone.) All observations were made from shore except for some made by Michael and Leslie from a canoe. I didn't get their numbers (except for Wilson's Snipe), so the figures below reflect my own notes. As is often the case at Rankin, viewing was difficult due to the great distance between the tipple area and the mudflats. Highlights included the following (conservatively counted): Double-crested Cormorant (27) Great Blue Heron (9) Great Egret (134) Little Blue Heron (22) Cattle Egret (12) Green Heron (2) Black-crowned Night-Heron (8) White Ibis (immature) Wood Stork (immature) Osprey Bald Eagle Semipalmated Plover (8) Killdeer (120+) Lesser Yellowlegs Willet (2) Spotted Sandpiper (3) Semipalmated Sandpiper (20) Western Sandpiper Least Sandpiper (10+) Pectoral Sandpiper (43) Stilt Sandpiper (6) Buff-breasted Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher (3) Wilson's Snipe (seen by Leslie and Michael from canoe) Eastern Kingbird (8) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Also seen were dozens of small sandpipers at a distance too great to allow for identification. Don Miller Greeneville, Greene Co., TN pandion@xxxxxxxxxxxxx =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________