Late Thursday afternoon, waders, including 22 WHITE IBIS, were congregating in the pools on Riverport Road. At 5:30 p.m. most were in the first one on the left, I think that's southeast, as you go towards the pits; shrinking water has exposed most of the cypress stumps. By 7:30 birds had moved to the next pool to the west, with a big transmission tower in it. Here we could count 22 White Ibis, along with 50+ Great Egrets, more than 30 Snowy Egrets, several Little Blue Herons (I saw 16 more fly out of there previously), 5 Great Blue Herons, and two Green Herons. Jay Walko had seen a Black-crowned Night Heron there earlier, but I couldn't relocate it. Also there was a Belted Kingfisher, a Least Tern, mallards, a couple of Black-necked Stilts, a Spotted Sandpiper, and some shorebirds grouped together on the back edge of the pool. Jeff Wilson was going to stay until dark to see where the birds went to roost. Thank you Jay for alerting him to the ibis, and to Jeff for the assist, a new bird for my Tennessee list! Over at the pits, shorebirds are everywhere! I didn't spend much time there, but a quick scan tempts anyone with dreams of finding a rarity: even though there's no water in the biggest lagoon, it was crawling with birds, and groups were flying back and forth in every direction. I parked just for a few minutes on the raised east/west levee in the middle and could see two Solitary Sandpipers close on one side, with some Pectorals around (not to mention a mixed group farther off I didn't try to scope), and on the other I spotted a lone SANDERLING. I caught a glimpse of two Blue-winged Teal flying in while I was looking at all the Wood Ducks in the northwest center pool, that has the trees along its western edge. The Black-bellied Whistling Ducks alone are enough to keep someone occupied for hours down there. One adult sat with her brood in plain sight on one dike; these youngsters were still striped and fuzzy, but grown up enough to have the duck shape. Pairs were loafing or swimming here and there, groups were flying over, whistling as they went. Jeff had an adult lead her newly hatched brood out from cover after I left; he thought these had been hatched within the last day or two. I didn't post it then, but on the 17th I saw a Ruddy Duck in one of those center lagoons, and Jeff saw her again yesterday. Weird habitat for a Ruddy! Water was deep enough for her to be diving on the 17th; I don't know how she's feeding now! How funny is it that I wish for more time to go down to the pits, blazing hot and stinking, when others dream of cooling off in a pool.... Good Birding! Gail King 5595 Ashley Sq. N. Memphis,TN 38120 =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER==================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY 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 ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA -------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan Clemson, SC __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________