Hello All,

This may be a tad belated, but of interest to some readers. My 75 yr old
parents live in the "Big Valley" community in Townsend, TN, bordering the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They live about 9 driving miles to
the Cades Cove section, surely one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
My folks note and know the more common, larger birds in their area, and
many people in the community have both sugarwater and seed feeders. The
bordering areas have large forested tracts, intermittent pastures and
mixed pine/deciduous river bottom lands. It is summer birding HEAVEN!

Despite a mindbogglingly oppressive heat wave, I was able to do a fair
amount of casual birding while visiting my parents, and even listed a
couple of interesting lifers. A gorgeous male YELLOW-THROATED warbler
gave a clear, but brief, appearance and sang his distinctive song. I also
saw what had to be a BLUE-WINGED/GOLDEN-WINGED HYBRID warbler, the more
common 'BREWSTER'S' form, pretty much textbook version after consulting
both 2nd ed. of Nat Geo Guide plus Jon Dunn's new Warblers guide.

A small flock of the largest subspecies (canadensis?) of Canada geese had
settled for the summer (maybe longer) at the community pond. Among these
geese were two BANDED adults which nested together and produced 5, now
half-grown, youngsters. One parent goose had a white neck collar with the
inscription 'F73Y' and an unreadable dull silvery-gray left leg band. The
other parent goose had only a right leg silvery-gray band, markings
unreadable. These are being reported to the Bird Banding Laboratory;
does anyone have an EMAIL address for these people, rather than the
1-800-327-BAND phone number?

Other interesting sightings included the summer resident kettle of 12-15
TURKEY VULTURES with one accompanying BLACK VULTURE, excellent comparison
study of these seen-daily species. ORCHARD orioles are abundant
here! While picnicing near the visitor's center at Cades Cove, a lovely
pair of BLACK AND WHITE warblers foraged in the rhodies within arm's
reach! And a huge tom TURKEY was strutting about in a large meadow,
easily seen and stopping traffic on the one-way road than goes around the
perimeter of Cades Cove.

Since there has been a dreaded BROWN-HEADED cowbird theme on Tweeters
Newsgroup recently, I'll mention seeing just-fledged East TN cowbirds
begging from Song sparrow and Northern Cardinal foster parents. The Song
sparrows had at least one of their own fledge, too, but the Cardinals
appear to have only raised the cowbird.

Finally, after years (even decades) of searching, I got a prolonged,
clear, exquisite study-view of a male BOBWHITE singing away, perched up in
a small pine tree. This species may be a scratch-feed yard bird in some
areas of the South (such as Florida), but it is a shy bird in east TN, as
most quail seem to be. I felt privileged to hear AND see the singing bird
at the same time.

Here it is, only mid-summer at the Des Moines, WA, Marina, and I'm already
impatient for the wintering seafowl to arrive! And the 3-day excursion to
Ocean Shores for shorebirds is coming up in late August (can hardly wait!)

Cheers to all,
Maureen Ellis me2 at u.washington.edu Univ of WA and Des Moines, WA
************************************
"Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of
confusion and bamboozle requires vigilance, dedication, and courage."
-Carl Sagan-