J.Percy Priest Lake, Davidson Co. TN . This is a follow-up of a post from last month about the "winter resident" female Merlin at Anderson Road Recreation Area. The bird was first observed for this year on January 1st, on the Nashville-east Christmas Count. It was seen again on Jan.4th and 7th. Jan. 12 I took some digi-scope photos and looking at the photos later I noticed in some shots the bird appeared to be banded. January 18 Jan Shaw and I went out with two scopes, got good looks at it, and this bird was NOT banded. Curious! There must be two birds! Two "identical" female-type Merlins using the same perch tree on different days. Jan. 24 I was able to get the banded bird in the scope and read three band numbers- "..041..." I've made an initial contact with the Bird Banding Laboratory but three numbers may not be enough for identification. I've not heard back from them. . On the 27th Dave Vogt, an experienced raptor bander, up from Chattanooga for the winter TOS meeting, made an attempt at capturing one but was not successful. Neither he nor any other raptor banders that we know of have banded a Merlin in the Nashville area, so it was probably banded elsewhere on migration or on it's home territory. If this bird could be identified it would be "good data" and interesting to know it's origins. Anyone going to see the bird(s) should bring a scope and try to read more numbers if possible, and if successful post them or relay them to me. . On Feb. 13 two female Merlins were seen on opposite sides of the point, and a possible third bird seen flying in the background. The banded bird was in the tallest cottonwood tree on the north side of the point. From the exercise trail parking lot it's aprox.250 yds to the point of the peninsula . Anderson Road Rec. Area is at the end of Anderson Rd. page 53 in DeLorme 6-7, C-D. Richard Connors Nashville TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the count 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 _____________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp _____________________________________________________________