[TN-Bird] Ospreys in Meigs County
- From: Charles Murray <dro_1945@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: TN Birds <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2014 12:07:19 -0800 (PST)
Last summer a pair of ospreys nested on a cell phone tower near my home in
Birchwood (Hamilton County). This morning I thought I heard an osprey near my
home, but by the time I could get outside with binoculars a few minutes later,
there was no sign of an osprey. The nest has been mostly torn down or blown
down over the winter. Around noon I decided to drive to Athens, TN, to have
lunch at my tied-for-number-1-favorite Chinese restaurant. On the way to and
from Athens, I saw two pairs of ospreys - one pair on each end of the Highway
58 bridge in Meigs County.
On the way back from Athens going west toward Decatur on Highway 30 in McMinn
County, I saw an estimated 200-300 gulls (probably ring-billed; I don't know
gulls really well) in a farm field. I thought that was an unusual spot to see
any gulls, much less hundreds. A closer look revealed that the field was beside
a creek, and there was a lot of standing water in the field. Apparently a lot
of prey animals were stranded in the shallow water in the field. I suspect that
a few gulls might have "tweeted" their acquaintances, resulting in a large
luncheon party. The field is on the north side of Highway 30, just east of the
intersection of Highway 30 with McMinn County highways 105/180. On Highway 30 I
also saw a couple of red-tailed hawks and several turkey and black vultures.
Charles Murray
Birchwood, TN
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