8 Apr 2006 Musick's Campground South Holston Lake Sullivan County, TN Four American White Pelicans were among the overnight fallout of rain-downed birds in Northeast Tennessee Saturday morning. Rick Knight, Carolyn Coffey and Wallace Coffey observed the pelicans in Tennessee just offshore of Musicks' Campgroun on what locals call "Egret Island." They where were in company with a mixed flocks of Ring-billed Gulls and Bonaparte's Gull. Before anyone other than the campground owner, Mae Musick, could get to the site, a third-year Bald Eagle arrived at the island, circled once, and landed a few yards away. The gulls scattered as the eagle approached but the pelicans held tight. Then the pelicans took flight. The pelicans flew in wide circles into Washington County, Virginia over the Spring Creek Embayment. Then back up the creek several hundred yards. The group flew back into Tennessee towards the Painter Creek Embayment and nearby marina. Rack and Carol Cross later found the birds while searching for them from the boat ramp at Observation Knob Park. Looking north across the lake to the TVA / Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency launching ramp, they saw the birds on the shoreline of the TVA property to the east of the ramp. The birds were not in view from anywhere else except Observation Knob Park at that time. Few of the birders in the area saw one another but several cellphone communications with birders working over favrious areas of Northeast Tennessee indicated that increasing numbers of birders were arriving in the Observation Knob vicinity to see the birds. Rob Biller got photos of the eagle and pelicans. This is the second record for a American White Pelican at South Holston Lake. A bird was present 21-23 Dec 1991 in Washington County, VA near Avens Bridge. It evidently left on 23 Dec and moved to the vicinity of Friendship Marina near U.S. 421 Bridge where it was seen by John Shumate, Wallace Coffey and others. It then flew to Boone Lake where it was seen near Davis Marina, 24-27 Dec. For those of you keeping a scorecard, this is the first official sighting from Musick's Campground -- tick one there. Knight had covered a larger geographical area during this morning (4/8) andwill post the birds we had at Musick's Campground during the pelican show. Let's go birding...... Wallace Coffey Bristol, TN =================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 _____________________________________________________________