The one expected Eastern spring warbler we've missed this year is the Worm-eating; the three unexpected we've not seen so far this year are the Kirtland's, Swainson's, and Connecticut (although we did have a fall Connecticut in our yard last year). So imagine our excitement this morning when my first look out the kitchen door there was a Worm-eating Warbler sitting on the telephone wire and it remained until Virginia could get her binocular and see it too. We hurriedly dressed and got out on the deck and were rewarded with a bully slugfest (beakfest?). An Eastern Wood Peewee has been the bully of the yard for the past three years and he launched himself at the Worm-eating. But to his surprise the warbler counter-attacked and began chasing him. This continued several times until the Peewee finally got the message and gave up. The Worm-eating continued to peacefully forage until I left the deck about 9:00. To add to the excitement of the morning, a male Orange Variant Scarlet Tanager came through the yard and stopped twice to feed, giving us great looks from 30 feet away at eye level. This is the second one we've ever seen in our years of birding and makes us wish this color was more common. What a treat to the eyes with his fluorescent orange glow ! There was a bird with him that we did not get to see completely because of the leaves, but since it was the same size with black wings and yellow on the body, we assume it was the female Scarlet. The birds have been really active on the Hill since the weather cooled. Virginia is gone right now to buy more sugar; she's used 4 pounds since Sunday morning and almost all the feeders are getting empty again with the voracious appetites of the hummingbirds. Since the females appear to outnumber the males by at least 2 to 1, we expect the demand to skyrocket when the babies come and the squeaks to become deafening. Tommy & Virginia Curtis Smithville, TN DeKalb County =================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 __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________