[TN-Bird] Melton Hill Park Great Egret, Red-eyed Vireos

From: Carole Gobert <cpgobert@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Tennessee Bird List <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 2011 13:15:10 -0400

Interesting morning at Melton Hill Park in west Knox County today.  In many 
places trees were fruiting and were full of birds eating the berries, cherries, 
whatever.  In particular I saw quite a few Red-eyed Vireos plucking the fruit 
out in the open; I've never seen so many before.  They were spending very 
little energy singing as they were too busy eating.  I counted at least 7 that 
I had good looks at but there were undoubtedly more.  The first Scarlet 
Tanagers I've seen here liked the fruit too.  The biggest surprise of the day 
was a Great Egret making its way along the far shore under the bluff.  It 
stopped briefly a few times to check out the water but then continued on its 
way to wherever it was heading.  I had just finished looking at the egret when 
three Ospreys appeared. Not unusual as I almost always see Ospreys here.  Two 
of them immediately joined 5 Black Vultures as they circled higher and higher 
above the park (not sure I've seen Ospreys hanging out with vultures before) 
while the third Osprey stayed behind and hunted over the water.  But the 
highlight of my morning was finally, at long last, managing to get a quick look 
at a singing Yellow-throated Warbler.  I've been hearing them for a couple of 
months in various places and have spent countless minutes staring into tree 
tops trying to spot one until finally this morning SUCCESS!
37
species



Double-crested Cormorant  6

Great Blue Heron  1

Great Egret  1

Black Vulture  5

Osprey  3

Mourning Dove  3

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1

Northern Flicker  1

Eastern Phoebe  2

Eastern Kingbird  5

Red-eyed Vireo  7

Blue Jay  5

American Crow  4

Northern Rough-winged Swallow  6

Purple Martin  1     

Tree Swallow  40

Barn Swallow  1

Carolina Chickadee  5

Carolina Wren  3

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2

Eastern Bluebird  5

Northern Mockingbird  2

Brown Thrasher  5

Yellow-throated Warbler  1

Common Yellowthroat  3 
   singing

Yellow-breasted Chat  1 
   heard only

Eastern Towhee  2

Field Sparrow  3

Song Sparrow  2

Scarlet Tanager  2

Northern Cardinal  3

Indigo Bunting  5

Eastern Meadowlark  5

Brown-headed Cowbird  6

Orchard Oriole  3

American Goldfinch  2
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://ebird.org
Carole Gobert, Knoxville, TN

[TN-Bird] Melton Hill Park Great Egret, Red-eyed Vireos

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