---------- Forwarded Message ---------- (Am re-sending this, as I noticed this morning that it did note post on Thursday) THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2007 Tree Swallow and "Pale Gull" A lone TREE SWALLOW was seen today at Eagle Bend Fish Hatchery, Clinton , TN Anderson County at 12:30. Other species/ ducks listed below. GULLS! There are 4-500 gulls at the hatchery. I highly recommend anyone in E. TN area that would like to study different plumages to go sort through these for learning experience. It was fun to have this many gulls in one location this close to Knoxville to sort through. Definitely a high count for me in this area in 8 years, (though some of you that have birded E. TN for years may know of other areas for large numbers and find this a boring thought.) I hope some of you will go over and see if you can find a PALE GULL, reminiscent of a Glaucous. Note- I am NOT positively reporting a Glaucous, merely a pale gull, seeing it only briefly, before they flew up. Simply could not find it in the chaos of that many birds as they scattered in 2-3 different directions. Searched through all the groups again for an hour, but had to leave for an appointment. (Some of them actually landed on the Clinch River, so scout the entire area, so look there also) I did, however, move here from a lifetime of living on the N.C. coast, frequenting Hatteras and other areas where unusual gulls show up. This was definitely NOT a Ring-Bill. It was larger than Ring-Bill, as well as what I could see of the wings and mantle, paler. (It was standing in the middle of a huge group, thus hard to see) If they are loafing around the high pond on the right, you can drive up on the top getting pretty close to them without their flying and scope through. The majority were Ring-Billed Gulls, different ages/ plumages , as well as 15-20 Herring Gulls, first and second year birds. For "newer" birders, go over and have a ball scanning through through, studying your book noting ages/ plumages. Then you will be able to recognize something "rare" or unusual in the gull world in the future. Ducks were Ring- Neck (6) Canvasbacks (9) I have seen few of these here the past 8 years Redhead (7) Bufflehead (4) Hooded Merganser (29) Scaup (2) M/ F Ruddy Duck 2 Mallard Gadwall (6) NO Coot? seemed weird. Usual smattering of Canada Geese 4 Common Snipe were in a muddy area around the drained pond in the back on the right. I will be reporting this list to ebird data files also. Hope someone can find that pale guy! Hopefully, I can get back over there myself asap. I think the gate is closed on weekends........ Nell Moore Caryville, TN =================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 _____________________________________________________________