Hello Birders This evening (Aug 18, 2002) while birding at Musick's Campground, = Bristol, TN (Sullivan Co.) at approx. 6:30PM until 7:45PM, Don Holt, = David Smith and myself observed an aerial show as displayed by a Least = Tern. The bird was within close range (less than 15 yards) several = times. Many near shore hovering dives were made by the tern. The field = marks gathered by the group causes us to believe this was a first year = bird and include the following: Dark bill, black leading edge on = shoulder, forked tail noticed when hovering, smaller in overall size = than the (9) Black Terns in the area (BTW the Least Tern remained = independant of the Black Terns), black lines through the eyes and = lighter on top of head, white underside and light gray back. According to Knight's "The Birds of Northeast Tennessee" only two = previous accounts of this species have occurred in Northeast Tennessee, = both at Austin Springs, Johnson City (Washington Co.). Knight lists the = species as: Visitor (accidental). Robinson lists more than twenty = records each for both East and Middle TN in the state records book, per = communication with Wallace Coffey. Bird movement is certainly underway in the Northeast portion of our = state and this makes for exciting outings with many surprises! Good Birding F.D. Rack Cross II Blountville, TN Sullivan County =================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 =========================================================