[TN-Bird] Rutherford County finds

From: "Scott Somershoe" <Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:38:16 -0500
I took the day off and decided to bird some new places in Rutherford =
County.  I started at Sharp Springs Recreation area in Smyrna, part of the =
greenway system here and has an adjacent TWRA WMA.  There is a series of =
flooded forests and ponds and paved walkways, which made for some =
interesting stuff.  Not real exciting overall, but having never birded =
there, I did pretty well with 49 species in 2 hrs. =20

Highlights were:
Tennessee Warbler - 2
Prothonotary Warbler - 5+
Warbling Vireo - 1
Northern Waterthrush - 1
Gray Catbird - 1
Kentucky Warbler - 1
Blue Grosbeak - 1 (first of the year for me)
Osprey - pair, one carrying sticks around.  Much be nesting somewhere on =
SE side of Percy Priest Lake

I then paddled my way out from the Fall Creek Landing (just north) and =
went mostly E up a shute to look for wading birds and more or less paddle =
around a new place.  I saw an Osprey, which is probably of the pair I saw =
earlier as I was about 2 miles (max) as the Osprey flies from Sharp =
Springs.  I found no rookery, but I saw a Black-crowned Night Heron, 3 =
Green herons (one was very patient and stood still for a few mug shots), =
and great blue herons of course.  I picked up Prairie Warbler and several =
Western Palm Warblers along the river banks.

On my way out, I stopped and looked at my map and heard an odd song I =
didn't recognize immediately.  I got out and saw (and photographed) a Lark =
Sparrow.  He was very close to Highway 840 and 452, which is about 1 mile, =
as the lark sparrow flies, from the Nashville Motorspeedway.  The location =
was at the intersection of Mona Rd and I guess 452.  You get off 840 at =
452 (exit 64) and head west away from the speedway.  You make a left hand =
bend in the road and in 0.33mi the road T's.  This is where the Lark =
Sparrow was.  Not much around, but perfect habitat for them.

I forgot to get the directions to Terry Witt's Bewick's Wren, maybe =
tomorrow.

All in all a pretty good day off!

I forgot to post earlier about the rookery at Shelby Forest SP.  I paddled =
in there on Sunday morning, before the rain, after the TOS meeting.  Since =
the rookery is so large and I had to do transects back and forth trying =
not to get pooped on, my estimate is 365 Great Blue Heron nests and 69 =
Great Egret nests.  I saw one Anhinga and one Cormorant, but no nests of =
either species.  A brilliant Great Horned Owl took over an old Great Blue =
Heron nest (right in the middle of the rookery) and had one large nestling =
sitting there staring at future meals.

Cheers,
  Scott Somershoe



State Ornithologist
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
P.O. Box 40747
Nashville, TN 37204
615-781-6653 (o)
601-868-0101 (cell)
615-781-6654 (fax)

"Keeping the rubber side down." -SGS
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[TN-Bird] Rutherford County finds

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