[TN-Bird] MERLIN
- From: "BirdsandTrails" <BirdsandTrails@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "TN-Bird" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 13:01:38 -0500
Tn-Birders,
I've had some good birding this year,
but the best (to me) was a January 24 sighting
of a MERLIN at Chattanooga's
Standifer Gap Marsh.
It was a cloudy afternoon
about 5:30 PM (nearing sunset).
With Betty Wampler I first saw the Merlin on a tree limb facing us.
Watched him for about five minutes before he flew
and I had only about a three second look at his back -
which appeared dark - I thought brown, making it
a female.
However yesterday afternoon (January 26)
when I returned to the marsh
I had three different sightings of this Merlin -
which is definitely a male.
One of the sightings was when he took off from the ground
on the opposite side of a water-filled ditch that I call
"the sparrow ditch" running from the paved road to the
marsh. I had walked down from the road to the marsh -
and was walking back on the south side so that the sun
would be more to my back. I was about 1/3 of the way back
to the paved road when Mr. Merlin took off from the ground and
flew back over the marsh and out of sight.
The sighting on Wednesday afternoon was on a tree limb
on the perimeter road going towards Hickory Valley Road -
and that locked gate.
The first sighting yesterday was on a tree limb of a very
large tree (oak, I believe). I was on the paved road near
the train car and the four abandoned tractor trailers.
The last sighting yesterday was when he flew out from
behind the marsh area and flew across Standifer Gap Road
and landed in a large tree in front of the gray barn.
He stayed here perhaps five minutes before he flew over the
barn and out of sight.
Carol Fegarido
Collegedale - Chattanooga
Hamilton county
=================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
_____________________________________________________________
Other related posts:
