Happy Sunday, Here in the Charlotte Park area of West Nashville, a mockingbird/squirrel battle was very entertaining this morning. A squirrel was going for the peanut butter I'd placed on the deck rail, and a mockingbird arrived to obtain another beakful to take back to its babies across the street. The mockingbird went after the squirrel, chased it up across the roof to the other side of the deck and out the deck rail until the squirrel leapt onto a hackberry tree. All the way, the mocker was doing contortions up and over, then around and under the squirrel, getting off several pecks at it. Most of the pecks were aimed at the squirrel's back side just above where its tail attaches. After the mocker finished with the squirrel, it came back to chase marauding starlings away. With help from its mate, it got rid, of the starlings. The mockingbirds then formed an alliance with one standing guard over the peanut butter and filling its beak while the other toted food to the babies. Upon the return of one to "reload its beak," the other went to feed the young. This went on until that clump of peanut butter was gone. The starlings got none. A second pair of mockingbirds apparently have babies downhill, so they are beginning to come for the PB. They are all descended from one big family of mockers, so there seem to be no "range wars," so far. Those will probably come later! Good birding to all, Dee Thompson Nashville, TN ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY 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 ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________