3/30/05 Gibson Co. I had considered going north after work today to look for Mark Greene's great finds from yesterday, the Sprague's Pipits. But, I didn't have enough daylight to do much with, so looked for shorebirds again. I had also considered going back to the field from yesterday. A conversation with Mark Greene revealed that he had been over there this morning, and was equally impressed with the birds, having a few more Golden-Plovers than I had yesterday, and a couple less Baird's. So, I thought I'd just check out a couple of wet fields on the way home. I struck gold again (literally, plover-wise anyway :") in a large wet field along Hwy 79 in the Rutherford Fork Obion River bottom just north of Milan. This large leveed field is the field on the north side of the river, on the east side of the road. As I drove by the area, I could see the distinctive silhouettes of Golden-Plovers in the field. This is a big field, and to get a little closer to the birds I walked out a field road. Mark's Sprague's Pipits had me paying close attention to the grassy road I was walking, but I couldn't do any better than a few Savannah Sparrows playing hide-and-go-seek with me. Shorebirds were all over the field, both along the flooded area, and in the field itself. Pectorals were once again the most numerous species. I couldn't get a good count, as I didn't have any elevation here, and they were feeding all out in the field, and I would see them come and go between furrows. However, there were more birds here in this field than in the field yesterday, easily 400-500 Pectorals in this area. No Baird's here, as the only peep was a single Least. I was surprised also not to have any Snipe in the area. There were around 50 Lesser Yellowlegs working the flooded area, and about a dozen Greaters. Golden-Plovers were the highlight, and they were spread out all over the field. The majority were using the field near the water, though several were also feeding with Pec's away from the water. I counted 98 Goldens, though I could easily have missed some. This is the largest flock I remember having away from the immediate Mississippi River area. I wasn't close enough to the Goldens to quite get the photos I would have liked, but I've posted 3 shots for anyone that hasn't had a chance to cross paths with these charismatic birds yet this season. I have posted these photos in my American Golden-Plover gallery, and the 1st image can be accessed at: http://www.pbase.com/mctodd/image/41450956 , clicking "next" will allow you to keep advancing to the next image. Some of these birds have just started to molt into alternate plumage (with a few golden spangles above, and a black splotch or two below), I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing some that have acquired alternate plumage later in the season! Good Birding!! Mike Todd McKenzie, TN Carroll Co. birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx www.pbase.com/mctodd =================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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================