Today a brief trip to Shutes Branch Recreation Area on Old Hickory Lake in Hermitage, Tn, Davidson County yielded several birds of interest. Numerous Great Blue Herons, some soaring on air currents like gulls, and Black-Crowned Night Herons were seen on and around the island about 200 yards offshore of the recreation area, 2 - 3 Rough-Winged Swallows were soaring and chattering pleasantly over the lake, and 1-2 Pied- Bill Grebes were swimming and diving off shore. The highlight of the day for me was at least one and possibly more Bonapartes Gulls in breeding plummage flying by every few minutes. This was only the second time in 18 years of birding that I have Seen this gull. The total species seen were: Canada Goose 20 American Black Duck Possible ABD/Mallard Hybrid Mallard 20 Northern Shoveler 1 Mallard/ Northern Shoveler hybrid Pied-billed Grebe 1-2 Great Blue Heron 4-5 some soaring Black-crowned Night-Heron 4-5 on or flying around island Black Vulture 1 on road American Coot 15-20 Killdeer 1 Bonaparte's Gull 1-2 breeding plummage Ring-billed Gull 10 Belted Kingfisher 1 American Crow 3 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2-3 Carolina Chickadee 6 Carolina Wren 1 American Robin 5 European Starling 10 Northern Cardinal 3 Common Grackle 15 Brown-headed Cowbird 5 House Finch 3 Number of Species: 24 I still suspect that there may be a Heron Rookery on the island offshore. Nat Winston III Hermitage, TN Davidson County =================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 _____________________________________________________________