Saturday January 14, 2017
Old Hickory Dam, Old Hickory side parking lot next to the beach.
Davidson County
8:30 am
This foggy morning I checked Snow Bunting Peninsula and saw the usual suspects.
I couldn't see over to the dam due to the fog, so I drove over there and found
a single male Red-Breasted Merganser and took several foggy photos as it
preened and swam about 100 feet out. I did not see the two female Common
Megansers that have been in this area since the beginning of the year.
Anderson Road Recreation Area, Percy Priest
Davidson County
6:30-7:30 am
Earlier I rode my bike in Anderson Road Recreation Area on Percy Priest at 6:30
am in low light. Around 7 am as I was photographing Buffleheads near the usual
Merlin tree at the point, I spotted a Merlin perched in a tree just above and
at treeline about 200 feet down the cove from the usual Cottonwood where I've
seen it perched. I took one photo before it flew to the Cottonwood, then it
flew back into the woods. Fifteen minutes later I located it or another Merlin
atop a telephone pole by the boat ramp at the end of the road. My main
objective was to listen for owls before it got really light, but no luck with
that goal.
Ken Oeser
Hendersonville, TN
