Nov. 16-17, 2002 Pace Point Area Went to Pace looking for a Red-necked Grebe and now find that Wallace has one holed up on Holston. ;o( We fought a good battle with the wind on Saturday but until very late in the day the wind kept the upper hand. The white capping waves and cutting wind made for hard work. I did manage an early White-winged Scoter and a brief look at a Pacific in the morning. Loons were flying everywhere and I photographed a group of 22 Commons circling, this is the largest flight of loons I've ever seen flying together in Tennessee. I was to learn later that these were most likely newly arriving birds trying to sort out a good place to feed. Franklin's nor Lesser Black-backed gulls were seen on Saturday. We did manage a look at an immature Golden Eagle, as usual right on time at noon, behind the maintenance buildings at the Big Sandy Refuge. A slogging tromp through the fields at Britton Ford yielded unsatisfactory looks at 4 LeConte's Sparrows trying to stay deep in the Panicum and out of the wind and 8 Lapland Longspurs were flushed from the corn stubble. As the wind laid down late in the afternoon and the waters were rippling rather than ripping, I was treated to a HUGE loon parade from Port Road and Trailer Road with a count of 719 Common and 3 Pacific. On Sunday, Goldeneye were seen sleeping off jet lag at Pace Point and many Red-breasted Mergansers were feeding at all points. No geese other than a few Canada were seen over the weekend. New ducks were rafted up anywhere there was shelter from the relentless wind. Hap Chambers and I searched all day Sunday and loons were spread evenly all over the lake but we could only count a little over 300 from the points this afternoon. A lot kept to their own company far out in the heat shimmer. In equal numbers, Horned Grebe bobbed on every wave's crest and over 100 Pied-billed Grebe were seen from one point. The two adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls had evaded detection last weekend and all day Saturday but both made an appearance at the roost at last light Sunday. They stood out among all the light back gulls. A few Forster's Terns are still about but evidently the Franklin's have retired south. At dusk a mass of 84 loons appeared to be swimming on thin quicksilver threads as an almost full moon cast its spell on the now quivering waters. What a vision to take with me on my 3 hour journey home. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL' COOT / TLBA Bartlett Tenn. PS. I just see where David Roamer had 800 loons at one place in Kentucky. Must have been heavy traffic in the skies Friday and Saturday nights. =================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 =========================================================