[tn-bird] Re: Yellow-headed Blackbird (Rankin Bottom)
- From: John Devereux Joslin <jdjoslin@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 09:22:56 -0400
Wallace and Tom,
Great bird for East TN. Pictures make it clear enough to identify the
species. Congrats.
Dev Joslin
Oak Ridge, TN
Wallace Coffey wrote:
> Today (8/14/02), while birding at Rankin Bottom, Cocke Co., TN, we
> had a female Yellow-headed Blackbird.
> The brid was observed for about 40 minutes between the hours of 3
> p.m. and 4 p.m. by Wallace Coffey and Tom Horsch.
> We are posting four of 19 digital photos taken thru my Kowa scope
> with a zoom lens mostly between 40x and 60x.
> The better photos may be seen on a web page at:
>
> http://www.adventuredamascus.com/adventure/adventurefolder/rankin.htm
>
> In good sun light with the sun to our back, we observed the bird
> near the water's edge across the French Broad Embayment on the far shore.
> It was walking and sometimes running about among shorebirds and often stood
> near Killdeer. It was nearly the size of the killdeer. At one point it
> perched about 24 inches above the ground in a small bush back from the
> water's edge. When on the mudflats in a well-exposed area, it appeared to
> be food gathering.
> For those wanting to see it if it remains, look for a blackbird
> walking around the shoreline which will, from time to time, fly a few yards
> to another area and continue feeding. Remember that this is at great
> distance and it appears just to be a small black shorebird when seen with
> binoculars at that distance.
> It has an upright posture, holds it tail nearly dragging the grown,
> has black legs and feet and the feet seem rather large. It has what appears
> to be a black back and we did not detect any white on the back or the wings.
> The tail appears all black with no light markings. It is slightly rounded
> tail with no notch. The bill is somewhat light and that can be seen with a
> scope set at higher power. The yellow eye-stripe is evident. At times
> there appears to be some yellow above the bill between the eye but that was
> not a certainty. The throat appears to be the same color as the breast and
> eye-stripe. There appears to be a dark patch either thru the eye but at
> least around and slightly behind the eye. The distance is so great and it
> is hard to see the details with extreme clarity.
> There are few records of this rare bird in East Tennessee.
> We had 15 Short-billed Dowitchers (white rump patch seen when flying
> around after being alarmed). There were four Semipalmated Plover, Lesser
> Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, cormorants, many
> Great Egrets and possibly other birds I failed to note and don't now recall
> while keying this message.
> We spent so much time and energy on the Yellow-head Blackbird that
> we were driven from the shore by the 99 degree heat and had to give it up
> without a serious and careful study of all the possible shorebirds.
> There are, as Boyd Sharp told us Sunday, "lots of shorebirds but not
> a lot of different species of shorebirds."
>
> Wallace Coffey
> Bristol, TN
>
>
>
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> =========================================================
=================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
=========================================================
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