Narrows of the Harpeth State Park Cheatham County, TN 27 April 2009 Whenever I tire of "warbler neck", I head out to the Narrows of the Harpeth. This is about the best place I know of in Middle Tennessee to actually look at eye-level or even down-on those pesky tree-top birds you can often hear, but rarely see. Think NORTHERN PARULA. I must have had a dozen singing males and did I ever get good looks at them. It is always a thrill to see the back or top of this bird. Other birds I saw on an equal footing were several YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERS, a singing SUMMER TANAGER in the foreground and a SCARLET TANAGER in the back ground- through my binoculars at the same time. A RUBY-THROATED HUMINGBIRD sipped nectar in the Fire Pinks at my feet and there was a male ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK I feel I could have reached out to touch. There were numerous singing INDIGO BUNTINGS. A Flycatcher at first mystified me even though it was calling repeatedly. The sound I heard was the "pyew" call that Sibley describes as a call the ACADIAN FLYCATCHER can make during migration. I totaled 11 warbler species, I including a WORM-EATING WARBLER that paused for a few seconds on a branch directly in front of me at eye level. But was surprised I did not hear a single Tennessee Warbler as I've heard them pretty consistently for a couple days in my yard and elsewhere. Here's what I observed: Black Vulture Turkey Vulture Mourning Dove Ruby-throated Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher Red-bellied Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker Acadian Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher White-eyed Vireo Yellow-throated Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Carolina Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Cedar Waxwing Blue-winged Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-throated Warbler Palm Warbler Cerulean Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Worm-eating warbler Louisiana Waterthrush Common Yellowthroat Yellow-breasted Chat Summer Tanager Scarlet Tanager Filed Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak Indigo Bunting Eastern Meadowlark (heard in the distance) Brown-headed Cowbird I believe Narrow of the Harpeth is one of the Field Trips planned this weekend for the NTOS meeting in Nashville. It would make a good choice provided you are not subject to acrophobia! Kevin Bowden 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 __________________________________________________________ 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 _____________________________________________________________