July 16, 2006 Memphis, TN I've been watching Western Kingbird and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers nesting in two areas of Memphis, both species have brought off young successfully so far. One Scissor-tailed couple on President's Island in southwest Memphis, hatched 3 young and the male took them off about a quarter mile away and the female went back and started a second nest. A second pair of Scissor-tailed FC were seen early in the season in northwest Memphis, but lately the male had disappeared and 2 pair of Western Kingbirds nested nearby. I discovered the female Scissor-tail on a nest a couple of weeks ago but I've only noted a single Western Kingbird staying close by. Saturday the female S-t was acting very nervous, sitting up over the eggs and continually looking down into the nest. I was pretty sure the eggs were hatching. The male Western Kingbird would continually fly up to the nest or hover nearby. On Sunday, she was standing over the nest and would leave to hunt and come back. Twice the Western Kingbird came as she left and fed the young! We had a nesting here a few years back in which the female of the pair looked to be a hybrid of some sort, actually looking more like a female Western Kingbird than a female Scissor-tailed FC. It is questioned that a pairing of Scissor-tailed and Kingbird could produce young and if so would they be able to produce young.That nesting did produce 3 young. In the case of this nest, it might be just a Western Kingbird that has lost his or her brood (Fish Crows did feed on the young Western Kingbirds from a nearby nest a few weeks ago) or maybe a mixed pairing. It will be interesting to see what happens in this case. Has anyone seen such a nesting? Good Birding !!! Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA 6298 Memphis-Arlington Road Bartlett, TN 38135 =================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 _____________________________________________________________