[TN-Bird] Unusual yard nesting

From: Mark Greene <greenesnake@xxxxxxxxx>
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:25:21 -0700 (PDT)
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Mt. Orange community, 3 miles south of Trenton
Gibson County
I've had some unusual sightings of birds in my yard over the years - flyover 
Am. 
White Pelicans & Wood Storks, Lark Sparrow, Bald Eagle twice, etc. I've also 
had 
some rather unusual nestings - Pine Warbler comes to mind. Years ago I had an 
adult Pine Warbler feeding recently fledged young and those were the first Pine 
Warblers that I'd had for the yard! I also had some Barn Owls nest in an old 
shed just across the field from my yard on a neighbors farm. But what I 
discovered had nested in the yard yesterday has to be near the top...

Let me start from the beginning. A few weeks ago while mowing the yard I saw a 
lot of whitewash at the base of one of the Sugar Maple trees in the yard. I 
inspected it closer and saw a nest up near the top of the tree about 25-30 feet 
above the ground. I inspected it best I could from the ground and did not see 
any activity. I speculated that maybe a Cooper's Hawk had been nesting there as 
I often have Cooper's around the yard throughout the summer months. I kind of 
forgot about it really. Until yesterday...

Yesterday I was in the front yard battling some red wasps that had built a 
large 
nest behind the gutters on the front of my house when I saw some movement from 
a 
rather large bird in the big Green Ash tree that is right next to the Sugar 
Maple where the nest was. I watched closely and saw 3 different birds moving 
among the branches and more movement coming from the maple tree. I grabbed my 
binoculars from the truck and put them to my eyes and found myself looking at a 
family of Green Heron fledglings! I watched and saw one of the adult birds 
sitting nearby in a Tulip Poplar tree. I thought about it and I have seen Green 
Herons flying around this summer but that's really not that unusual. I see them 
most summers. I guess in hindsight I have seen them a little more frequently 
this summer compared to others. It just goes to show that even a fairly large 
bird can go almost undetected (even in a birder's yard) when nesting! I'm reall 
not near any water to speak of. There are a couple of farm ponds not too far 
away and the small waterway that eventually becomes Buck Creek runs behind my 
house, although it's little more than a ditch that carries rain runoff here. 
But 
I've read that sometimes Green Herons will nest far away from water and they 
also apparently like maple trees. My Sugar Maples are extremely dense and lots 
of birds seem to like them for roosting.

On a different note - sorry about the multiple posts from my last weeks 
sightings. I wasn't getting them and I thought they weren't going through 
so...my bad.

Good birding,

Mark Greene
Trenton, TN
Gibson County



      

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[TN-Bird] Unusual yard nesting

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