[TN-Bird] Merlin on Old Hickory Lake

From: "fekel" <fekel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2011 13:38:54 -0600
Sanders Ferry Park
Old Hickory Lake
Hendersonville, TN
2010 Jan. 22
10:10-11:00 am
cold, partly cloudy

With secondary roads still partly ice covered I decided to stay
close to Nashville today.  Even so I encountered ice here and
there as I drove around in some areas.

I went back to Old Hickory Lake today and made a quick search
for the mixed blackbird flock that had the YELLOW-HEADED
BLACKBIRD from 2 weeks ago, but I did not see a significant
blackbird flock in the area.  A quick visit to Old Hickory
Lake dam produced nothing particularly unusual so I decided
to drive around the lake to Walton Ferry Road and then
Sanders Ferry Road.  I stopped at Sanders Ferry Park and
scanned from a couple different places.  At the boat ramp
I saw a distant perched accipeter/falcon on one of the
small islands to the left of the boat ramp.  It soon flew
past me to another nearby island and in my scope I got good
looks at what turned out to be a female MERLIN.  After a
couple brief flying forays it perched for a while and
eventually I wandered off to another part of the park.

There were two huge rafts of BONAPARTE'S GULLs on the
water.  One had at least 600 gulls in it, and I estimate
about 760 total.  Two COMMON LOONs and two BLACK-CROWNED
NIGHT-HERONs, one adult and one immature, rounded out
the list of interesting birds.

While I was at the boat ramp I saw decoy ducks next to
one of the nearby small islands and as a dozen MALLARDs
flew overhead, several hunters fired at them but apparently
missed.


Frank Fekel
Nashville, TN
=================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
               --------------------------------
               Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan
                        Clarksville, TN
__________________________________________________________
         
          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

_____________________________________________________________
[TN-Bird] Merlin on Old Hickory Lake

Other related posts:
