Old Hickory Dam Area
J. Percy Priest Dam Area
Davidson Co., TN
Saturday, 2011 Dec. 10
Clear and very chilly
On Saturday morning, December 10, ten intrepid Tennessee
birders, representing several counties in middle Tennessee, converged at Old Hickory
Dam in northern Davidson County for the Nashville TOS field trip. They spent a very chilly morning searching
for various winter species. A walk
through the woods next to the dam produced an EASTERN PHOEBE, good numbers of
GOLDEN CROWNED KINGLETs, and several BROWN CREEPERs, and FOX SPARROWs, the
latter being a life bird for some in the group.
Perhaps the best bird of the morning was a FORSTER'S TERN that circled
low over Snow Bunting Peninsula.
Also seen in the area were a nearby COMMON LOON, BONAPARTE'S
GULLs, and plenty of HORNED and PIED-BILLED GREBEs. Duck numbers were rather low with only RUDDY
and MALLARDs seen. Since the morning was
still young, as a bonus, we drove to the J. Percy Priest Dam.
While no new species were found on the lake, a drive to
the area below the dam produced a lone RUSTY BLACKBIRD that posed in a bare
tree for the group. At the end of the
morning the group had found 44 species.
List of birds found:
Mallard 15
Ruddy Duck 18
Common Loon 11
Pied-billed Grebe
12
Horned Grebe 22
Double-crested Cormorant
1
Great Blue Heron 9
Black Vulture 36
Cooper's Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 6
American Coot 81
Killdeer 5
Bonaparte's Gull 3
Ring-billed Gull 170
Forster's Tern 1
Mourning Dove 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker
2
Downy Woodpecker 4
Northern Flicker 2
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 5
Carolina Chickadee
8
Tufted Titmouse 4
Brown Creeper 3
Carolina Wren 6
Golden-crowned Kinglet
9
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
5
Eastern Bluebird
14
American Robin 32
Northern Mockingbird
2
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling
209
Yellow-rumped Warbler
3
Eastern Towhee 2
Field Sparrow 4
Fox Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 11
Swamp Sparrow 5
White-throated Sparrow
4
Northern Cardinal
8
Rusty Blackbird 1
American Goldfinch
2
Frank Fekel
NTOS Field Trip Leader
