This morning on Tims Ford Lake, the Red-headed Woodpeckers really were putting on an aerial show. There's a nice little colony of them on our 5 acres here, where the mix of living and dead shagbark hickories make for great foraging and caching opportunities, but yesterday evening and this morning they were all about living prey. The adults would spot a flying insect, mostly annual cicadas but also a large junebug-like species, then fly from the snags over the lake in a great mid-air pursuit.... What a sight to behold! We watched from our deck, which is almost at eye level. After a couple rattling distress calls, a juvenile would fly in. After killing the prey by hammering it into one of the small cavities in the snag, the adults would pass on the large protein-filled morsel to the younger birds (all of which still had dark streaking underneath, and no color yet on their heads). Does anyone know if this species tries for two broods per year? The only other surprise was a Red-eyed Vireo appearing to be bringing food items back to a nest (a blue darner amongst others). I thought this was a little late in the season, but I guess these birds are fairly late Fall migrants. Good "Dog Days" birding! Ed Schneider Whites Creek Davidson Co. Sent from my iPhone=================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 -------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan Clarksville, TN __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________