May 5, 2005 Ensley Bottoms Shelby Co. TN I went to the pits this evening after work and migration had taken its toll, the numbers of Wind Birds had dropped over 50% since Wednesday morning. Still there was plenty of birds to glean through. Shortly after I arrived, I found a Reeve laying up with some yellow legged buddies in a grassy patch. Not particularly a good sign for the bird to be here over the weekend. I did find 4 female Wilson's Phalarope and still the single male dances all by himself in a remote pool. The male still retains old tertials from his teen age days last year. I still had 1 Baird's that I could find in a short search and a few White-rumped plus a second Short-billed Dowitcher is present along with a bunch of Long-billed. Still 19 species present. The appearance of a Western Kingbird, south of the plant in the same location the first bird appeared last year, was a long awaited treat. Now maybe the others will come on in and get a bunch of nests started. The atmosphere is right as today I counted NINE active Black-necked Stilt nests and amorous couples abound. Painted Buntings have been counter singing in their regular location west of the plant. Last week, I thought I was finally going to have some sandbars to look at but the river after falling 20 feet, jumped back up 10. The past year, there has been little to see on the river because of high water but it has paid off with more birds than usual at the pits. You win some and you lose some............. 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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================