March 14, 2004 Near Black Bayou Handicap area Lake Co. TN Yesterday, I had a group of meadowlarks fly up from the side of highway 78 just south of the road into the handicap hunting area of Black Bayou. I recognized the birds as Western and turned around and pulled up in the field road south of the Black Bayou handicap road on the east side of 78. The birds had flown into some soybean stubble. I located the birds and was trying to get photos of the distinct tail pattern (I did get one shot finally) when two of the birds started trading half songs. This is typical of young birds as they develop their songs through the winter. I tried to get closer but the birds flew north to the edge of the trees. When they flushed, I heard multiple "chupp" notes given, the only real diagnostic vocalizations that can be used to separate the two species as they can sing each others songs. There were 10 birds in the flock although I had only been able to locate 8 in my scope. I checked two other locations where they had been seen this winter but had no luck. I did get 2 LeConte's Sparrows and 1 Short-eared Owl over near Bogota Refuge. 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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================