At least 30 people showed up for the KTOS trip to Rankin WMA on Saturday (24 Aug 2002), pretty good considering there's a Western Grebe in town. It was good to see several new faces and especially good to see Tony Koella out and about at the site he made famous. Birding at Rankin was pretty slow compared to the previous two weekends. Two dowitchers flew off just after we got there; one juvenile Stilt Sandpiper was seen well then disappeared; some folks from NC reported a Baird's Sandpiper before we got there; and Tony Koella reported a Willet while the rest of us were off on the Rankin Death March down the lake-bed road in the heat and almost rain. We stopped first at Dutch Bottoms in Jefferson Co. where Hwy 25E crosses Douglas Lake. There was some good birds here but at a distance. 4-5 Sanderling 3-4 Pectoral Sandpiper 10+ Least Sandpiper 2-3 Western Sandpiper 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper 2 Spotted Sandpiper 2 Semipalmated Plover lotsa Killdeer 1 Osprey, a few Mallards, Double-crested Cormorants, Green Heron, Great Blue Heron At Rankin Bottoms: Double-crested Cormorant, a few 2-3 Semipalmated Plover lots more Killdeer 2 dowitcher sp, leaving with a dozen or so Pecs to points unknown Stilt Sandpiper, 1 juvenile 15+ Spotted Sandpiper about 15 Lesser Yellowlegs 1 Greater Yellowlegs 10+ Least Sandpiper 2 Semipalmated Sandpiper 1 Western Sandpiper about 12 Pectoral Sandpipers leaving with the dowitchers around 50 Great Egrets about a dozen Blue-winged Teal There will still be a few more good birds at Rankin but things are winding down. Dean Edwards Knoxville, 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 =========================================================