[Bristol-Birds] Merlin at Oak Hill Cemetery
- From: "Rick Phillips" <sunfish0501@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol Birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "tn-bird" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Butternuts" <butternuts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2006 07:12:08 -0500
I was out early yesterday morning watching a Cooper's Hawk finishing up her
nest at Oak Hill Cemetery here in Kingsport. I was looking through the
viewfinder of my video camera when I heard a bunch of starlings squawk about a
100 yards up on top of a hill from where I was. I looked over just in time to
see a small raptor (who had just busted through the flock of starlings
apparently) sail into a tree on the hilltop. It was quite distant but my first
reaction (almost before I even looked at the bird) was "there goes the male
Coop looking for some breakfast". But, I had one of those feelings you get
sometime that something just wasn't right and I felt like I needed to go check
out that bird. Not wanting to move the camera and scope I had set up on the
Cooper's Hawk nest, I just decided to walk over far enough to see if I could
get a good enough look at the bird to confirm a Cooper's Hawk. There were a
lot of small twigs between me and the bird so I had to get pretty close to see
the bird. When I finally got a look I was quite surprised to see a very pale
colored Merlin perched in the tree. It was much lighter in color than a Merlin
I had seen here a couple of years ago. Must have been the Prairie race. I ran
back over to get the video camera and of course by the time I got to the camera
I looked back to see the Merlin flying back over the top of the hill and off
towards the new Holston Medical Group and Welmont complex on Stone Drive.
Guess it always pays to take a second look.
Rick
Rick Phillips
Kingsport, Tennessee
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