[TN-Bird] Sandhill Cranes and Other Species at/over Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge
- From: Charles Murray <dro_1945@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:31:12 -0700 (PDT)
I spent about 3 hours at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge (HWR) in Meigs County
late this morning and into the early afternoon. Wildlife watchers cannot walk
around on the refuge after October 31 until March 2 next year, so it was a good
time to go, and the weather was great.
About 11:30 AM, I heard and finally saw a lone sandhill crane. I was thinking
that it might have spent the summer in the area until I heard some more
sandhills. Five more cranes came into sight from the north and circled for
awhile as if deciding whether or not to stay. While watching them through my
binoculars, I noticed a group of about 20 sandhills much higher and heading
south. Meanwhile, I lost sight of the five that were circling, so I don't know
if they came down on the refuge or not.
Other species seen were:
1 fish crow - I am identifying it as such because of the very different call
from American crows, and I listened to the fish crow sounds on the Stokes CD
later.
American crows - several
palm warblers - several in the large oak near the viewing gazebo
yellow-rumped warblers - several near the bridge that crosses the end of the
slough a couple of hundred yards to the east of the gazebo
1 adult bald eagle + 1 that may be almost adult. The second one had an almost
completely white head and tail. ((Ken Dubke and I saw a similar pair in "aerial
combat" ? ? ? (talons-to-talons - VERY IMPRESSIVE FLIGHT MANEUVERS) at HWR
yesterday.))
2 great blue herons
Carolina chickadees - several
Blue jays - several
Northern cardinal - 1
Mourning doves - several
Turkey vultures - several
Black vultures - several
Belted kingfishers - 2 (heard)
Pileated woodpecker - 1 (heard)
Killdeer - 1 heard (Two were seen in a different area at HWR yesterday)
Phoebe - 1
Tufted titmouse - 1
Mockingbirds - 2
Eastern bluebird - 1
A few other species were seen only briefly or were only heard, and I wasn't
sure of my identifications. They included:
Eastern wood pewee
Northern flicker
Brown thrasher
Red-bellied woodpecker
Red-tailed hawk (only heard today, definitely identified by sight yesterday at
HWR)
Charles Murray
Birchwood, TN
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