Percy Priest Lake, Davidson Co. TN Anderson Rd. Recreation Area Feb.23 . Attempting to read more band numbers I went out and checked on the Merlins this afternoon. I didn't see the banded bird but I did get a look at a third bird, another female type, brown streaking with dark brown back. At 4:26pm a bird flew in from the south and perched in the tall cottonwood. Almost simultaneously a second bird came in from the cedar thicket to the east, dove on the first, swooped low over the water then up giving a cackling call and alighted on an opposite branch of the same tree. It appeared to be slightly larger with darker brown streaking and a darker brown back. I scoped these two for several minutes and saw no bands. . The yellow legs were not banded but they were blood stained, evidence of feeding. Those sharp little talons were probably responsible for the Cedar Waxwing feathers I found down the trail. When I first arrived here last week at 3pm these thickets were full of Robins and Cedar Waxwings feeding on Eastern Red Cedar berries. When I came back to the point at 4pm the Merlins were in the area and other birds had cleared out. . I ran into nature photographer Josh Stone earlier, he'd been out a few weeks ago seen his life Merlin and got photos. He commented that he'd heard Merlins in southern Canada were getting quite common and seemed to be adapting to suburban areas. . Richard Connors Nashville =================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 _____________________________________________________________