[TN-Bird] Fw: Red-cockaded/goldfinch

  • From: "Anna Varney" <arvarney@xxxxxxx>
  • To: "tn-bird" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 17:23:46 -0600

Its good that NPT-Nashville Public Television-airs educational programs about
nature.  They usually do well with their variety of different programs, but
I was rather disappointed that they would not be airing Don and Lillian
Stoke's new series on birds--I e-mailed the station last year to inquire if
and when they would be airing the series and the response I received was
that programs about birds aired in the Nashville viewing area did not get
much support from the public in general (????)  Maybe if everyone in Middle TN
requested it enough they would at it to their lineup.

As far as my tyrant mockingbirds--I have 'solved' the situation by spreading 
peanut butter from one end of the yard to the other.  The mockers now have a 
lot more area to keep up with and hopefully will soon tire of chasing all 
around.  
The 'family' of bluebirds returned at once.  I've got one tough mocker 
here--one that chased away two squirrels this morning along with a pair of 
Red-bellied WP that got too close to the peanut butter.

Anna Varney
Summertown, TN 


----- Original Message -----
From: <Dthomp2669@xxxxxxx>
To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2003 12:31 PM
Subject: [TN-Bird] Red-cockaded/goldfinch


>
> At 11:00 AM today (Sunday), Public Television Channel 8 in Nashville had a
> program on "Snakes".  During the first quarter of the program, they had a
> short segment about the red-cockaded woodpecker's "trap" for keeping its
nest
> protected for its worst enemies, snakes.  It told how the woodpecker nests
in
> live pine trees, pecks holes just below the nest hole for protection.  The
> program then featured a corn snake crawling up the tree, showed the resin
> seeping under the scales thus irritating the snakes tender flesh and,
then,
> the dramatic sudden fall of the snake from the tree when the irritation
> became more than the snake could stand.  The short segment ended with the
> victorious red-cockaded peering out of the nest hole and flying off to
tend
> to business.  Since PBS reruns all its programs several times, you might
wish
> to check your local listings for the program "Snakes" on NATURE.  It's
worth
> a view.  It sure reminded me of my Florida home to see a nesting
red-cockaded
> as I grew up watching one nest in a pine just off a state road
right-of-way a
> couple of miles from home.  Of course, development came, the road and
right
> of way were widened, the nest pine demolished, and my adorable
red-cockadeds
> left!
>
> My lone goldfinch that appeared during the seven inch snowfall was back
this
> morning feeding away on sunflower seeds.  In just this week, he has begun
> "yellowing-up" real good as one of my old-timey ornithologist friends used
to
> call it.
>
> Yesterday afternoon, one of my "boss" mockingbirds came at my call to get
its
> peanut butter.  The bird was so totally wringing wet through and through
that
> it reminded me of a drenched anhinga just as it emerges from under the
water.
>  I have seldom seen a wetter bird.  As soon as I had placed the peanut
> butter, this mocker got down there an ate greedily as if it had not eaten
for
> hours.
>
> By the way, even though my six mockers are bossy, I do not think they are
> quite as possessive as the one Ann Varney writes about.  Other birds can
eat
> at my feeder..............after my first-in-command pair of mockingbirds
have
> had their fill, then my second-in-command pair and the
bottom-of-the-barrel
> pair have finished.  Even my sweet little Carolina wrens get into the
peanut
> butter.  My mockers all fight the starlings which is fine with me.  In the
> past, even the young baby mocks fight adult starlings from the day one
when
> their parents get them to the feeder.  Baby mocks learn to take care of
> themselves in a hurry!
>
> Cardinals are aggressive too.  My white-crowned sparrow took a real
"beaking"
> from a male cardinal a few days ago. The w-c was feeding among several
> cardinals on my deck, and, suddenly, one of the male cardinals dashed over
to
> the white crown and just went "peck, peck, peck, peck, peck", full force
and
> hard, right on the top of the sparrow's head.  The sparrow flew to the
deck
> rail, acted a little stunned, stayed there, then came back and fed in
peace
> when the cardinals got full and left.  The next day, I saw my
white-crowned
> out there at times when the cardinals were not.  Lesson learned!
>
> Go get a lifer today!
>
> Dee Thompson
> Nashville, TN
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To unsubscribe, send email to:
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with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
          web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
    TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
        jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx      (423) 764-3958
=========================================================


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