I struck out on a mission to find the Common Mergansers this morning in the
Pittman Center area and Greenbrier, then get home to do some projects. I didn't
find the mergansers and 2 hours later I finally made it home but only after
finding my 210th Sevier County species, a lifer in Sevier County, and a nemesis
no longer. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! On my way
home up Hwy 416, windy and raining, spotted a silhouette that looked familiar
but unfamili ar, birders know what I mean. Zagged the car in the road, put the
emergency flashers on, rolled down the window to find a Loggerhead Shrike!
Found a place to park, walked around in the rain a while, no shrike. Got back
in the car, drove around the area on 416 and Copeland Creek Road, nothing. The
rain quit so I parked again, a friend Michael Webster drove by, pulled over and
as we chatted, the Loggerhead Shrike flew up from some brush into a tree where
these photos were taken. It flew back around some brush and wasn't seen again.
If you want to look for this bird, go to the exact spot on this ebird
checklist. There is only one small pulloff on the river side of Hwy 416 and it
is a road down to the river, but there is room for a car on the side of the
road here. Be careful, traffic is sometimes heavy and fast here. Search
downstream (north) from the small mud puddle and parking area about 50 yards,
the Shrike was using this area exclusively.
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35025204 ;
Keith Watson
Pittman Center, TN
Sevier County
Attachment:
IMG_4458 - Copy.JPG
Description: JPEG image
Attachment:
IMG_4462 - Copy.JPG
Description: JPEG image
