FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Peregrine Falcon, Sparrows, Erwin, TN

[AHoodedWarbler@xxxxxxx]

I stopped by the Cherokee Industrial Park in Erwin (Unicoi County), TN after 
work. A field near the facility that makes mobile homes is usually a good place 
to find Vesper Sparrow.

No luck with Vesper. I think the field is too overgrown this fall. I did find 
two Savannah Sparrows, a White-throated Sparrow (my first of the fall), 
numerous Song Sparrows and what I suspect was a Lincoln's Sparrow. I wanted to 
see more of the Lincoln's, although I did see that it was slightly smaller than 
some adjacent Song Sparrows and did appear finely streaked. The lighting wasn't 
great, and it disappeared after only a brief viewing and never came back up, 
unlike the Song Sparrows, which kept popping into view with every "pish."

Other birds included a Magnolia Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet  and a 
Sharp-shinned Hawk.

The best sighting, however, involved a Peregrine Falcon and a flock of perhaps 
750+ European Starlings. At one point, the falcon split the whirling flock into 
two separate flocks. At one point the falcon was in view flying below the huge 
flock of starlings. It was amazing to see how the starlings all turned in such 
perfect unison. Still, a few individuals were out of synch, but the falcon 
never seemed to be in the right place at the right time to pick off any 
stragglers.

I don't know how the struggle eventually ended. The falcon and flock both got 
out of range.

This spot in Unicoi County has yielded previous sightings of Peregrine Falcon 
for me. It is a very open area and home to concentrations of starlings as well 
as Rock Pigeons.

Bryan Stevens,
Hampton, TN



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