FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] A super-great kestrel moment!

[Dthomp2669@xxxxxxx]

Hi Birders,
 
Right a this moment, a sparrow hawk is perched on a wire about 30 feet and  
at about an 11:00 position above my now totally birdless and mouseless  
"smorgabird" here in the Charlotte Park area of West Nashville, Davidson 
County,  
just east of the Cumberland River across from Bell's Bend.  The bird was  not 
even perturbed when I stuck my camera out the door and took three photos of  it 
in very poor light on this cloudy day.  Even so, the photos show the  markings 
very well.
 
SUCCESS, SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!  A little mouse came up through a crack  in the 
deck floor, and the sparrow hawk just swooped down right at the edge of  my 
French door, only five feet from me, snatched up the mouse and flew away in  an 
instant.  It was so fast!!  I saw the mouse come up, thought about  its 
vulnerability and "whoooosh," it was snatched and gone!  I just went  outside 
to 
look and found the kestrel perched on top of a utility pole  across the street 
where it was dining on its prey.  I got one photo of it  before it decided to 
fly away with the rest of its meal.  It obviously  didn't want me to watch it 
eat.  With such a supply of mice and a short  wait to catch one, I'm sure the 
kestrel will be back!  
 
The sparrow hawk made its catch and left.  The Carolina wren is again  
circulating around my deck feeding, and one of the bossy mockingbirds just came 
 for 
peanut butter.  Sparrows, juncos and mice are still in hiding just as  it 
begins to sprinkle which, I believe, will develop into a full fledged rain  
very 
shortly.  Yep, I just heard thunder!
 
Just as I was ready to "send," a small flock of crows just flew into a back  
yard about four houses behind me which set a flock of blue jays to  screaming 
their bloody brains out.  I can't help but wonder if one of the  great horned 
owls is sleeping in one of the trees out there.  My house is  situated is such 
a way that I can sit in my dining room and look right down  through all the 
back yards of the houses facing the bisecting streets near  me for a distance 
of what would normally be about two blocks.  In winter,  the lack of leaves 
leaves it very open back there; in summer, it's too leafy to  see very far past 
my own deck.  (I used leaves twice in that one sentence,  first as a noun, then 
as a verb.  I did it on purpose--literary license,  you know!)
 
Cheers, prayers & super birding,
 
Dee Thompson
Nashville, TN

=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
You are also required to list the count in which the birds
you report were seen.  The actual date of observation should
appear in the first paragraph.
_____________________________________________________________
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.
______________________________________________________________
  TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society 
       Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
        endorse the views or opinions expressed
        by the members of this discussion group.
 
         Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
                 wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_____________________________________________________________
     Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
          web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp

_____________________________________________________________