April 24, 2004 Ensley Bottoms / Eagle Lake Memphis, TN You can quit praying for rain. We've had plenty over the last few days (4") but since it takes a few weeks for the development of food, it is too late for a better part of this spring's Wind Bird migration. Where there had been water before and therefore food, the birds are stacked in like cord wood. At Ensley I had 16 species of shorebirds including a big number of Lesser Yellowlegs. Breeding Killdeer numbers are low this year, American Golden-Plover - 7, Semipalmated Plover - 11, Lesser Yellowlegs - 1630+, Greater Yellowlegs - 6, Solitary Sandpipers - 217, Spotted Sandpiper - 3, Black-necked Stilt - 13, Semipalmated Sandpiper - 1, Least Sandpiper - 243, Pectoral Sandpiper - 177, BAIRD'S Sandpiper - 4, Stilt Sandpiper - 9, Long-billed Dowitcher - 15, Wilson's Snipe - 7, Wilson's Phalarope - 1 The PLUS was finding a few frantically babbling Bobolinks in the vetch, soaring Mississippi Kites, PLUS a single WESTERN KINGBIRD just south of their normal nesting area and a small tree with 13 tired looking Dickcissels all hunkered in. Speaking of nests, the Bald Eagle nest here in Memphis still awaits the arrival of young as one of the birds sat on the nest all morning without moving, except to shake its head when annoyed by flies. At Eagle Lake Refuge only 15 shorebirds were seen, Greater Yellowlegs - 3, Lesser - 7 and 5 Solitary. Late this afternoon a Philadelphia Vireo jumped my TN Year List to an even 200. 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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================