Bird Walk with the Mayor
Oct 8, 2011
In collaboration with Mayor Dean of Nashville and the
Metro Parks personnel, NTOS held a bird walk for the public at Shelby Bottoms
near downtown Nashville on Saturday, October 8.
Mayor Dean and several of his staff showed up for the walk plus about 40
interested individuals, including several parents with young and enthusiastic
children and some NTOS members. The
crowd was divided into several small groups led by NTOS birders Scott Block,
Camille Crenshaw, Frank Fekel, Amy Potter, Chris Sloan, Susan Tirrill, and Mary
Zimmerman. Routes through Phase I of
Shelby Bottoms varied, and the walk, which began at 7:30 am, lasted 2-3 hours
depending on the individual group.
Although much of the time was spent talking about birds
and answering questions, the groups did identify a nice variety of birds. Combining
lists we found 49 species plus 2 unidentified flycatchers.
There were 10 species of warblers detected with MAGNOLIAs
being the most numerous and generally the most accommodating. Several wintering species showed up such as
YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, BROWN CREEPER, and WHITE-THROATED SPARROW.
Species list and an estimate of the maximum numbers seen
by an individual group.
Canada Goose 46
Mallard 3Double-crested Cormorant 12
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Killdeer 2
Mourning Dove 2
Chimney Swift 10+
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 4
Downy Woodpecker 4
Northern Flicker 4
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Eastern Phoebe 3
Empidonax species 2
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 7
Carolina Chickadee 11
Tufted Titmouse 4
Brown Creeper 2
Carolina Wren 4
Eastern Bluebird 4
American Robin 10
Gray Catbird 6
Northern Mockingbird 2
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling many
Tennessee Warbler 1
Nashville Warbler 1
American Redstart 1
Magnolia Warbler 9
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Yellow-throated Warbler 3
Bay-breasted Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Eastern Towhee 5
Field Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 7
Indigo Bunting 1-- sang
Common Grackle 4
Brown-headed Cowbird 30
American Goldfinch 2
