Aug. 31, 2002 - Big Day Run Mike Todd and Jeff Wilson Shelby Co.- Mud Lake, North Lake, Ensley Bottoms Dyer Co.- Everett's Lake, White Lake Refuge, TN-MO Levee Dyersburg Shopping Center Lake Co.- Reelfoot Lake, Black Bayou, Tiptonville Landing, Island 13 6 AM till 8:30 PM - 235 miles We left Memphis heading north at 12:30 PM with 100 species after 6-1/2 hours of running and it took 8 hours to get 20 more. THIRTY-FOUR species were represented by only 1 bird! Strategies changed throughout the day and a quick run back to Reelfoot Lake after sundown from a bleak walk out on Island 13, produced 3 quick species on the lake where we had added none before. We then tried and failed on the Tiptonville, Barn Owl and for the finale we had 6 Common Nighthawks over the lights in Dyersburg. We could stir up only 6 species of waterfowl, but 8 species of raptors on a day when nothing was flying was pretty good. We missed the Wood Storks and Roseate Spoonbills at Mud Lake. We had 15 species of shorebirds at Ensley with, Buff-breasted, Baird's and SB Dowitchers. One Ring-billed Gull and 3 species of terns was low. Only three owl species but all the expected woodpeckers were found. Seven species of flycatchers and kingbirds and 4 species of vireos made the list. A most unusual find by Mike was an Acadian sitting ON A NEST on the ridge above Ensley Bottoms. All the swallow species and Purple Martins were seen but the only thrush species was American Robin. Nine species of warblers with some real treats in the bunch, like Nashville, Blackburnian, Prothonotary, Yellow and Blue-winged in the same tree and a pristine Canada, Parula, and Black and White at another stop. We only had warblers at 3 places. A single Dickcissel at White Lake Refuge made up for the lack of shorebirds there and the only sparrow species of the day was Field Sparrows at Black Bayou Refuge, where we enjoyed hearing and seeing the Bell's Vireo that evidently treated a lot of TN birders to their holiday bonus over the long weekend. Our misses were too many to think about but we advanced the previous August record of 114 to an even 120 species. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL' COOT / TLBA Bartlett Tenn. =================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 =========================================================