On Saturday evening, I decided to take a quick trip up Bon Air Mountain in eastern White County to the Bridgestone-Firestone Wilderness area in search of American Woodcocks. The B-F Wilderness is a wonderful area of natural beauty that includes several small pocket lakes, large expanses of open farmland and scrub, and a forested area leading down to the Caney Fork river bottom. Since you cannot drive into the wilderness, you have to park at one of the three roadside entrances and hike in. On the way in I observed Canada Geese and Ring-necked Ducks on two of the lakes and a noisy flock of at least 200 Red-winged Blackbirds. Also had Grackles fly over in large numbers, but alas no Rusties or Brewers that could be culled out. I walked down one of the access lanes about 500 yards into a large field edged by brush and trees in hopes of hearing a Woodcock or two. Much to my shock and pleasure one began his distinctive "peent" within minutes of my arrival - and within 10 yards of where I was standing! For the next twenty minutes I stood literally in the center of four displaying American Woodcocks! They would each "peent" several times, fly upward in their circular spiral, flutter at about 30 feet above the ground making a kissing sound, and then dive back to the surrounding brush to begin the whole process again. They were close enough that I was able to see the birds in flight again and again. All in all, quite a wonderful experience! By the way, in the course of the evening, I also had at least six Northern Harriers (4 male, 2 female) working the fields nearby and roosting together in an open farm area in the distance. I kept hoping against hope that a Short-eared Owl or two might join them, but alas, I left for home satisfied but unowled. Douglas Downs Sparta, White County, Tennessee =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the count in which the birds you report were seen. The actual date of observation should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ 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 _____________________________________________________________