About 10 am this morning in the vicinity of Voyles Rd. and Spring Valley outside Winterville, I saw a singing meadowlark on a wire at the NMC property, and an American Kestrel swooping over the farmland across the street.

This morning at 7 AM there was a Swainson's Warbler singing behind the Botany Greenhouses off of Riverbend Rd. They seem to be a bit more widespread this year now that the drought is over. There's a very small wetland (not accessible) back there to go with the dense privet thicket in the floodplain of the North Oconee River. The SWWA's song echoed nicely off the buildings at the University Automotive Center early in the morning without any traffic noise to overpower it. I enjoyed hearing one of the Mockingbirds there doing a spot-on impersonation of a Cope's Gray Treefrog call.

During a walk past the railroad tracks between the UGA Family Housing office and the Intramural tennis courts at 9 am today, I heard a bird singing and thought it was an odd version of a Chestnut-sided Warbler or perhaps American Redstart. To my surprise, upon raising my 8x40 binoculars within 10 meters of the bird, I saw a bright yellow belly and throat with a black necklace and streaking down the sides, distinctive white markings over the eyes, and a white patch on the wings. I then was sure it was a singing male Magnolia Warbler. It was fairly approachable, perched about 4 meters high above the tracks. Pretty amazing and the only record of this species for Georgia in June, as far as I can tell.

I had a Louisiana Waterthrush singing in the yard this morning. Only sang twice, but it was nice to hear.

Ed.

We have been watching an eagle sitting at the top of a dead pine across the street for the past 30 minutes. We can hear another one close by but have only seen the one. What type eagle lives in northeast Georgia?

It's gone now...maybe it was an osprey instead of an eagle.

Patty, Where did you see the eagle/osprey?

Edited by author 06-29-2009 09:27 PM
On Sunday morning about 11:15AM as I was driving south from Watkinsville on Highway 15 I saw a very large bird circling and diving towards the side of the road. As I rounded the curve just past the Flat Rock Road, at a great distance it appeared to be a very large buzzard but as I approached it it flew directly over my car at about 15 feet, close enough that I am sure it was a male bald eagle. I could clearly see the white head and neck starting at shoulders and the white tail as it pulled up and went over my car. Any reported nesting sites in Oconee?

Bald Eagles are pretty common on Lake Oconee, so it could have popped up from Greene County into Oconee County with little effort. I'm not sure about actual nesting sites in Oconee County though.

I now know it was NOT an Osprey because there were no markings around the eyes. It's chest was lighter that the rest of it's body (dark brown). One of my brothers said it might be a young Bald Eagle. Regardless...IT WAS AWSOME! We live in the Green Acres subdivision in Athens but there are lots of trees and creeks for it to hunt.

Bald Eagles do occasionally wander up this way, presumably from the Lake Oconee area. I have seen 2 or 3 in Clarke Co. in previous years, and so have other observers.

It wouldn't be out of the question for a bald eagle to show up in Green Acres. Last November one made a brief appearance at the end of Riverbend Parkway in River Oaks.

Re: Patty's bird, in Green Acres, a Red-shouldered Hawk or, from the description (mostly brown with a white chest), a Red-tailed Hawk is much more likely than a Bald Eagle (especially if there were two of them calling to one another- Red-tailed Hawks sound like stereotypical majestic screaming raptors from the movies, while Bald Eagles almost sound like a chattery seagull). Red-tails look huge when perched in a treetop and are noticeably bigger than Red-shouldered Hawks. It would be very unusual to see a Bald Eagle or two perched in a neighborhood away from the river or a sizable lake here in Athens.

There is an ENORMOUS female red tailed hawk that usually nests in the back of Southeast Poultry Research on College Station Road. We can see it pretty well from the RRC building next door. When she perches on the ledges of the RRC, she makes the mockingbirds that divebomb her look like little chickadees! This could be the same hawk that Patty saw as the two areas are very close. I have also seen osprey here, they hunt up and down the river and will on occasion perch on the ledges. I have not seen one recently, that doesn't mean they are not there. The mockingbirds here on the property include the hawk, bluebirds, tree swallows, towhees and bobwhite quail in their songs.
Amy Barbe
Athens-Clarke County


On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 7:43 PM, QT - Joel McNeal <
qtopic-29-6JbdZFsuhUc6@quicktopic.com> wrote:

>
< replied-to message removed by QT >

From Mary Case,
A red-tailed Hawk was seen on the window ledge of the Life Science Building on Campus. it is probably the same one Amy reported. Some one took a picture of it.

On Jul 2, 2009, at 12:13 AM, QuickTopic daily digest wrote:

< replied-to message removed by QT >

For the second time this week, we had a male summer tanager in our yard at the end of Riverbend Parkway.