June 22, 2002 Ensley Bottoms Shelby Co. TN In between chasing Western Kingbirds and there young today, I managed a few trips over to the pits. I had 119 Black-necked Stilts as the high number for today counting young and old. I know I missed some of the young birds hiding in the grass. There were birds mating, building nests, brooding eggs and young and others just standing around doing nothing. killdeer and their young were heavy in the mix. At 11 AM this morning, 5 Pectoral Sandpipers came winging in and went through the typical traveler's routine of circling again and again, casing the joint for a good place to land. After settling, two went to sleep, two went to preening and one just sat down. I knew they were not going to be there long and at 11:20 they called, picked up and left on the now famous heading of south-southeast. Late this afternoon I found another ragged bird, looking completely worn out but picking its way across the flat; it will be still there tomorrow. Earlier in the morning, I had 3 Least Sandpipers come into TVA Lake but they circled, landed but started to feed and late this afternoon they had been joined by 2 others feeding in a different part of the ash flat. The "Best Shorebird of the Day" was a Short-billed Dowitcher, a full week earlier than my only other June record. The bird was found feeding in a small pocket of water surrounded by weeds. This brought back memories of the day Ben Coffey took me to the pits one hot summer long ago but still vivid in my mind. We found a Dowitcher in just such a setting and I had to go out into the weeds to flush the bird for Ben to hear. It also was a Short-billed and being close to my first Dowitcher and it being in almost full breeding plumage plunged me head long into this passion I have for shorebirds. Any how, they are back and all is right with the world at this time.............. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL' COOT / TLBA Bartlett Tenn. =================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 =========================================================