FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] field sparrows, flickers.....

[Dthomp2669@xxxxxxx]

For the past couple of weeks an adult field sparrow has been appearing on my 
deck to dine around 7 PM daily where it steadily feeds for about 20 minutes if 
something does not pester it.  A week ago, this sparrow was joined by a 
little friend.  Now the two of them have been dining daily for their 15 to 20 
minutes, then one flies up to the back of a chair, poses prettily for a moment 
or 
two, then flies off toward the Cumberland River.  In a couple of minutes, the 
second bird imitates the first bird's performance, and I do not see them again 
until the following late afternoon.

This morning, as I rolled the garbage can out to the street, two flickers 
flew up from my neighbor's yard.  A third, seemingly juvenile, flicker remained 
behind "investigating" a cement block planter alongside the neighbor's house 
and finally moving along to a rock garden at the corner of the house and out of 
sight.  I suspect it was finding ants as this neighborhood has had sort of a 
bumper crop of them lately.

In the non-bird category, another neighbor reported that a "young deer" 
crossed the back corner of my lot late one recent afternoon, jumped a four foot 
fence into a neighbor's yard and disappeared behind that neighbor's house.  The 
closest I have seen deer in the past has been a mile or so away near where 
Richland Creek enters the Cumberland River.

A young opossum is making nightly visits to my house much to the glee of my 
male poodle, Beaujolais, who has "treed" him twice, once up the wall and once 
to the kitchen window sill.  One early morning, it was still outside feeding 
after a rainy night.  I had not let the dogs out, so the young 'possum paid me 
little mind.  I got my camera and took pictures of it obligingly leaning across 
to lick peanut butter off the apple in the suet feeder, then moving forward 
to slurp up grape jelly from an orange half, and, finally, sitting up on its 
haunches raccoon-style "washing" its paws!  I can't wait to get all those 
pictures back.  I guess I had just never thought about it that 'possums "wash" 
their 
paws.  Out of deference to "Poss", Beaujolais and Magnolia have now be 
relegated to leashes when I take them out on their OWN DECK at night.

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.
-----------------------------------------------------
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
=========================================================