[TN-Bird] Merlin, Shrike, Horned Larks - Cedar Hill (Robertson Co.)

From: Tony Lance <tonylance@xxxxxxx>
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:40:18 -0500
I birded around Cedar Hill this morning and had a very memorable outing. I 
first went to a farm where I almost always have Horned Larks. They did not 
disappoint and I saw about 15. Savannah Sparrows were even more numerous and I 
saw scores of them. But the big surprise came as I was driving away and spotted 
something in the middle of the field perched on a broken corn stalk. It turned 
out to be a Merlin, and I watched it for a good 20 minutes as it sat facing the 
sun preening. When I decided to continue driving it flew a short distance to 
another low perch and went about its business.

From there I went to Cedar Hill Swamp to see how the Red-headed Woodpeckers 
were faring. They, too, did not let me down. There were at least 25 flying back 
and forth from the swamp over to the nearby Willow Oaks gathering and caching 
acorns. The water level is higher than in years past and cattails have covered 
more of the swamp than they used to. I can't help but think there are rails 
there though I didn't see or hear any. Sparrows of various species (nothing out 
of the ordinary) and Indigo Buntings were exceptionally numerous in the 
surrounding weedy areas.

After that I went looking for Loggerhead Shrikes. I didn't see any at my first 
stop, Johnson's dairy farm, but I did find one perched on a power line a bit 
farther down the road at the Woodall farm.

Tony Lance
Springfield, TN


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[TN-Bird] Merlin, Shrike, Horned Larks - Cedar Hill (Robertson Co.)

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