I had the fortune of coming home from school at a reasonable time (read: before sunset) and was rewarded with the best yard/neighborhood bird we¹ve ever had: Merlin! It was hanging out on the power lines down the street from our home in our subdivision. After driving past it on the way in and thinking it was a kestrel, I walked back with binoculars to check it out. Imagine my surprise when I saw all of the needed field marks for Merlin. It flew away from its post and returned twice, giving me a full display of its flight shape and style, which backed up the ID. After about five minutes of observation, it took off and flew west. Our house is in west Knox County in the Cedar Bluff area right off of Middlebrook Pike. I love easy life birds! Good birding, Angela M. Hoffman Knoxville, TN ahoffman07@xxxxxxxxxxxxx =================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@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. _____________________________________________________________ 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 -------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan Clemson, SC __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________