Cassin’s Kingbird at Bell’s Bend
A bright flash of yellow this time of year often means something out of the ordinary. Whether it was the Western Tanager at John’s suet in January/February of 2021, the Western Tanager at my suet feeder in January of 2020, or the Baltimore Oriole at a customer's West Meade suet feeder in February of 2024, yellow usually means interesting in wintertime!
This proved the case again last Saturday while walking the River Loop trail at Bell’s Bend, when John and his wife encountered and were able to positively identify a Cassin’s Kingbird. The sighting occurred in the early afternoon, and lasted long enough that they were able to get a good look at it through their binoculars (this is why we always harp on carrying them with you whenever you go for a walk!) before it was chased off by one of the park’s numerous Northern Mockingbirds.
Cassin’s Kingbirds are normally found in the southwestern United States south through northern and central Mexico. These gray and yellow flycatchers can be spotted on high perches, where they will launch from to intercept insects on the wing. While this was a surprising sighting for Middle Tennessee, it’s not unheard of. On December 7th, a customer of ours spotted a Cassin’s Kingbird, also at Bell’s Bend! I went out for my own exploratory hike of the River Loop trail a couple days later but was unfortunately unable to locate the bird. However, given the park’s size, it’s possible it could still be there so keep your eyes peeled if any of you go out to hike Bell’s Bend!
Store Updates
With the holidays firmly behind us, we have a number of items on sale, with some up to 50% off! All glass enamel bird ornaments as well as our balsa wood bird ornaments are 50% off. In addition to these, large AND small solar towers, swinging pendulum owl clocks, and seed hearts. If you find yourself jealous of the very cool songbirds t-shirt I’ll be modeling tomorrow, (Saturday, Jan. 11th) it as well as all other t-shirts and hats will be 30% off.
As many of you have noticed, the parking lot can be a challenge during certain times of day. While it has calmed down from its holiday peak, it still can be busy, especially around lunch time. We are working on a solution which we will address in a blog post in the near future. In the meantime though, the parking situation has greatly improved from December. If it is still a concern to you, we can say that the busiest time of day within the plaza is between 11:30 when Sam’s opens, and 2pm when the lunch rush has concluded. As we mentioned though, things are much calmer now and you can most likely find a decent parking spot even during this time of day!