[TN-Bird] Shrikes, Pipits, Vespers & more (Robertson Co.)

From: Tony Lance <tonylance@xxxxxxx>
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:51:36 -0500
Birding in Robertson County the last week or so has been quite good. A 
highlight for me has been a pair of shrikes in Cedar Hill that appear to be 
nest building. I've seen them on and around one particular cedar tree four 
separate times. Once I saw one fly into the cedar carrying something in its 
beak, and another time I saw one perched on a fence opposite the cedar holding 
a twig. Curiously though, on that latter occasion the bird manipulated the twig 
for a while before hanging it on the barbed wire and flying away. I've never 
seen one do that before.

On 3/13 I was joined by Jan Shaw and her mother, Mrs. Koehler. Horned Larks 
were on our agenda and we got excellent looks at a number of them. Another 
target for us was American Pipits. Despite looking far and wide we saw only 
one, and briefly at that. Jan spotted two Red-headed Woodpeckers for us and 
found one of the Cedar Hill shrikes perched on a fence deep afield. We also had 
brief looks at a Vesper Sparrow and more satisfying looks at a number of 
Savannah Sparrows. A Northern Harrier and a couple of Eurasian Collared Doves 
rounded out our day.

A very brief outing yesterday resulted in five species of blackbird. I had 
Red-winged, Rusty, Grackle and Cowbird in short order before topping the day 
off with five Brewer's (one male, four females) alone in a field. All were seen 
on Carter Rd. in Cedar Hill.

Durwood Edwards joined me today and we drove around both Cross Plains and Cedar 
Hill. It turned out to be one of the most memorable outings I've had in a 
while. Here are the highlights:

4 Loggerhead Shrikes (all at locations different that the Cedar Hill pair; one 
was seen flying with what appeared to be a small snake in its beak)
80+ American Pipits
30+ Horned Larks
6 Vesper Sparrows (seen at three different locations; Fox, Field, 
White-crowned, Swamp, Song & Savannah also seen)
2 Northern Harriers
20 Wilson's Snipe
3 Lesser Scaup
8 Blue-winged Teal
4 Rusty Blackbirds
2 Tree Swallows (FOS)
1 Palm Warbler

Tony Lance
Springfield, TN






=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER====================
The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with
first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation.
You are also required to list the COUNTY 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@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
_____________________________________________________________
                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
                ------------------------------
                Assistant Moderator Andy Jones
                         Cleveland, OH
                -------------------------------
               Assistant Moderator Dave Worley
                          Rosedale, VA
               --------------------------------
               Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan
                        Clemson, SC
__________________________________________________________

          Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
              web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                          ARCHIVES
 TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/

                       MAP RESOURCES
Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif
Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com

_____________________________________________________________
[TN-Bird] Shrikes, Pipits, Vespers & more (Robertson Co.)

Other related posts:
