[TN-Bird] Ethridge, Lawrence Co - Henslow's Sparrows, Short-eared Owl

From: "Scott Somershoe" <Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxx>
To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:37:14 -0500
I spent some time late this afternoon in Lawrence Co. northeast of Ethridge 
retracing some routes surveyed for Loggerhead Shrikes in 2005.  I found a 
shrike pretty quickly, but got distracted by some high quality 
grassland-shrubland habitat and wetlands in the area.  I stopped at a couple 
farms and found some snipe, greater and lesser yellowlegs, and a solitary 
sandpiper.

I found a nice block of grasslands and immediately heard singing Henslow's 
Sparrows.  I never saw any, but heard at least 4 singing birds.  Some common 
yellowthroats were singing as well, plus numerous meadowlarks.  Immediately 
across the street was a farm pond with wetlands and I had 7 species of 
shorebirds: Greater yellowlegs, lesser yellowlegs, pectoral sandpiper, least 
sandpiper, solitary sandpiper, wilson's snipe, and killdeer.  

At one point I saw a large raptor flying low over the grass fields (it was 
about 630pm local time).  It wasn't built like a harrier and I immediately knew 
it was a short-eared owl.  Fortunately the bird came back a few minutes later 
and gave nice views.  I later got a couple crummy pictures of the bird perched 
on a downed tree at distance and at low light.  You can see it is a short-eared 
anyway.  

Needless to say I didn't get very far on the shrike route (I also didn't start 
until 6pm), but the species I found were excellent.  Here is my eBird list:

Canada Goose     11
Northern Shoveler     2
Northern Bobwhite     3
Black Vulture     3
Turkey Vulture     6
Red-tailed Hawk (Eastern)     2
Killdeer     7
Solitary Sandpiper (Eastern)     5
Greater Yellowlegs     3
Lesser Yellowlegs     4
Least Sandpiper     3
Pectoral Sandpiper     1
Wilson's Snipe     16
Mourning Dove     22
Short-eared Owl     1
Belted Kingfisher     1
Downy Woodpecker     1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)     1
Loggerhead Shrike     1
American Crow     22
Horned Lark     2
Purple Martin     2
Barn Swallow     14
Tufted Titmouse     8
Carolina Wren     2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher     1
Eastern Bluebird     14
American Robin (Eastern)     33
Northern Mockingbird     5
Brown Thrasher     1
European Starling     24
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)     1
Pine Warbler     1
Common Yellowthroat     3
Eastern Towhee     8
Chipping Sparrow     2
Henslow's Sparrow     4
Northern Cardinal     8
Red-winged Blackbird     87
Eastern Meadowlark     64
Common Grackle     24
Brown-headed Cowbird     14
American Goldfinch     2
House Sparrow     2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Scott Somershoe

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

www.tnwatchablewildlife.org
www.pbase.com/shoeman
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[TN-Bird] Ethridge, Lawrence Co - Henslow's Sparrows, Short-eared Owl

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