FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Barred Owl at Gallaher Bend, Anderson County, Tennessee

["Carole Gobert" <cpgobert@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I knew I was going to have an interesting time at Gallaher Bend in Oak Ridge 
yesterday when a great blue heron flew low over the road just in front of my 
car as I approached the entrance to the park road.

Most of the birds I saw were on the first part of the walk, in the meadows 
and fields to either side of the paved road (no vehicular traffic after 3:30 
p.m.) in the general vicinity of the swimming beach and just before you get 
to the dirt road:

lots & lots of Eastern Bluebirds
goldfinches
palm warblers
chickadees
yellow warblers
a Magnolia warbler
an Eastern Phoebe
a belted kingfisher
the aforementioned great blue heron
gray catbirds
mourning doves
many bluejays
flock of sparrows I couldn't ID (definitely not song sparrows, white 
throated or white crowned)
3 Muscovy ducks who approached me begging for food. Had to explain to them 
that I didn't have any.

The bluebirds were very active, fussing and chasing each other all over.  
Fun to watch.

I had just gone a short distance on the dirt road when I spooked a barred 
owl who must have been sitting in a tree right next to the roadway.  He/she 
flew about 20 feet and perched on a limb.  We watched each other for a while 
and I snapped 2 photos (will probably just show as a silhouette due to the 
darkness in the woods).  It was 5 p.m.  But I got great looks through the 
binoculars.  Wow!  That made my day.  I didn't walk very far on the dirt 
road.  All my birds were either before I got to it or right after entering 
it except for the owl.

Carole Gobert
West Knox County, Tennessee

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