Aug. 27, 2003 Ensley Bottoms Shelby Co. TN Mike Todd had an afternoon off and called to say he was going to visit the pits. I got down there at 4 PM and we did the rounds. The numbers are down about 1/3 but still tremendous numbers to shuffle through. The Semipalmated and Pectoral Sandpipers had declined along with Western Sandpipers but Least Sandpipers still fill every gap. The constant twittering of the birds in the afternoon was a nice touch as they became use to us and came back to feed almost at our feet. At first we could only find 11 species in the mix but Mike had had a brief look at a molting adult Golden-Plover before I arrived for an even dozen. There had been a dozen or more Stilt Sandpipers there on Sunday but we could not come up with even one until the rain storms arrived. It went from oppressively hot sun to clouds and cool breeze and the species we were missing appeared as if by magic. We found the Golden-Plover again and it was the same one I had found on the weekend. Then there was a strutting Buff-breasted, 8 Long-billed Dowitchers and 3 Stilt Sandpipers. The storms split and went around us and we finished the day with billowing angry clouds and bolts of lightning that kept dark clouds of shorebirds in the air. The immature Cooper's still causes a stir at extended intervals. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL'COOT / TLBA Bartlett, TN =================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 =========================================================