On Saturday, June 15 I decided to make a run down to Shelby County and see the nesting Western Kingbirds, etc. and see what other birds I could come up with. I had called Jeff Wilson the night before and he said that he was heading east on Saturday morning to try to pick up a few species that he needed for the year. I arrived at The Earth Complex (aka "the pits") at around 7:30 on Saturday morning. I quick stop at TVA Lake yielded several Killdeer and a pair of Black-necked Stilts. I headed west and stopped at the towers where the Western Kingbirds were nesting and quickly spotted one of the adults sitting high atop one of the towers. From here I headed a little further wet to the Painted Bunting spot and listened for several minutes before I finally heard the male singing. I tried to locate him but he was not sitting in the open and everytime I started getting close he would fly a little further away. I only had brief glimpses of him in the air. I did however get excellent looks and the female who was perched at the top of a bush. There were also lots of Yellow-billed Cuckoos here and they were actively calling and flying around carrying food to feed the their young. I must have had at least 10 of them at this one spot! Also present was a singing male Blue Grosbeak and both Baltimore & Orchard Orioles. Leaving here I headed back to the Western Kingbird spot and on the way I saw Loggerhead Shrike, American Kestrel, Common Nighthawk, and Belted Kingfisher. I watched the adult Western Kingbirds trading back and forth, feeding the young in both of the nests. There were also several Eastern Kingbirds around. Driving back down Riverport Road I saw a couple of adult Yellow-crowned Night-Herons and lots of Wood Ducks, including several with young, and a couple of Hooded Mergansers. I left the pits and headed up to Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park in northern Shelby Co. I worked at this park one summer in the early nineties as a naturalist so I'm a little partial but this has to be one of my very favorite parks in the state. I picked up several new species here including Mississippi Kite, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Barred Owl, and Least Tern. Passerines included 4 species of vireos, 11 species of warblers including 4 or 5 Ceruleans (I couldn't get into the bottoms to search for Swainson's as the gate was locked), Summer & Scarlet Tanagers, Wood Thrush, and Chipping Sparrow. I had singing Worm-eating Warblers in two different spots in the park. I spent about 3 hours in the park and then left and headed north up Hwy. 51. On the way home I went through the Eaton Bottoms in Gibson & Crockett Counties and the Macedonia Bottoms in Gibson Co. and picked up a few additional species. I arrived back home at around 3 pm where I had to do some yard mowing, etc. Late Saturday afternoon, my wife, the kids, and I were in Jackson getting ready to go see the West Tenn. Diamondjacks minor league baseball team play and we stopped to eat first. When I walked out of the restaurant I heard the alarm call of an Eastern Kingbird. I looked straight up and saw two Eastern Kingbird mobbing a Cooper's Hawk! The hawk circled several times and then flew out of sight in the general vicinity of Union University. That was my 97th species for the day - not a bad total for 2/3 of a day of semi-casual birding! Good birding, Mark Greene Trenton, 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 =========================================================