FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Mute Swan at Kingsport

["Rick Phillips" <rickanddonna98@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This morning (March 17) I saw one Mute Swan swimming with Canada Geese in the 
S. Fork Holston River along Netherland Inn Road just downstream from the 
Netherland Inn.  Don't know where this bird came from.  I haven't seen him here 
before today.  I checked the area along the greenbelt near K-Mart in Kingsport 
where Bill Grisgsby reported Red-shouldered Hawks at a nest earlier on this 
list.  This pair has been hanging out in this area for over a year.  I saw them 
on and off all winter.  As you may recall I saw them adding sticks to a nest 
last year which eventually was used as a nesting platform for a pair of 
Yellow-crowned Night Herons.  As Bill reported the hawks are at another nest 
site this year very near where the herons nested last summer.  Both birds were 
present and quite vocal as I watched them near the nest.  It didn't look like 
anyone was incubating or sitting on the nest during the couple of times I 
checked last week.  I did see the birds copulating just a few yards from the 
nest.  Also present were numerous Wood Ducks and a singing Winter Wren.  In the 
parking lot at the end of American Way Drive (which is an access point for the 
paved greenbelt here) someone has been throwing out cracked corn.  A flock of 
mixed Rusty and Red-winged Blackbirds have been feeding here for the past few 
weeks.  This would be a great place for anyone who has problems walking a long 
way or needs a wheelchair or walker to get a look at the Red-shouldered Hawks.  
The greenbelt is very level in this area and you could drive right down to the 
access point and only have to walk a few hundred feet to see the nest.  I'll 
check again this afternoon and see what's up.  I have some good photos of these 
Red-shouldered's I'll forward to Wallace if he want's to use them on the 
Bristol Birds photos page.  By the way I have not seen the Merlin at Oak Hill 
Cemetery in a couple of weeks.
Rick

Rick Phillips
Kingsport, Tennessee


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