Hi Heidi
I live in Nashville also. I just began feeding birds this past summer so I will be of no help with your "mystery bird". I have not seen a bird like your description so far. I am sure you will get lots of good ideas from others on this site.

I know I have the usual "suspects" at my feeders: Chickadees, Titmouse, Gold and House Finches, Carolina Wrens, Doves, Bluejays, Downy Woodpeckers, Mockingbirds too many HOSPS and recently way too many Starlings. And of course squirrels. A couple of Cardinals that usually feed on the ground. I am so looking forward to the return of the "Hummers" this spring.

Just yesterday morning I saw two very large birds, I suppose Hawks, flying around. Kind of scary but they are beautiful.

Anyway I am happy to see someone else from Middle Tennesse on the forum and just wanted to say "HI".

Sounds like a grosbeak: think goldfinch on steroids- usually in flocks.

Cards galore here at Cheapwood!

If you have an intrest in birds....my best friend makes Bluebird and Bat houses to bring to the Middle Tennessee Plant Swap.

I just love watching and feeding the birds. I live in Middle TN also, near Murfreesboro. Could the bird you saw possibly have been a cedar wax wing? I saw several last year. They would come to the bird bath along with at least 6 blue birds, a real sight to see.

Everyday I see blue birds, nut hatches, tit mouse, junco's (until they return north), jays, cardinals, Carolina wren, house finches, yellow finches, downey woodpecker, red belly woodpecker, doves, Carolina Chickadees, an annoying mocking bird. A few urban birds show up, like the European Starling, but so far they do not dominate the feeders. They really love the suet.

I live in Nashville too but I don't know what kind of bird it is. I am having the same kind of birds at my feeders that everyone else has already posted. My daughter has blue birds at her house but I haven't ever had one. She lives on 12.5 acres so maybe that has something to do with it.

I live about 50 miles south of Nashville and last week at about 7 a.m. one morning there were approx. 100-150 cedar waxwings that flew in to get water from my pond. I have never seen so many of the same birds acting so crazy at one time. They were a beautiful sight to see. My pond is about 8 foot from my back door so I had a "birds eye view".

I just moved here last year,and put my bluebird houses out imediatly. (no takers same thing this year) when I put them out in Georgia, they moved in right away. They are out there and use them as a perch but thats it. I miss watching them raise there little ones.

Here in a burb outside of Memphis...I don't even have birdhouses yet and they are all over my yard. They like to perch on my rose trees. Not sure what kinds they are but one is the bluest blue...almost like a cobalt, the other is very red...like a cardinal. We also get plenty of hummingbirds but have not spotted any of those yet

Here in Knoxville I'm blessed with birds....and cursed with squirrels! I do have some woods behind the house so I'll give that most of the credit. So far I've had bluebirds at the birdbath and the feeders have been quite busy with chicadees, titmouse(s), cardinals, nuthatches, carolina wrens, finches - gold, house & a couple of purple, 3 different varieties of woodpeckers and sparrows. I've had towhees, doves and bluejays on the ground with the crows and a red-tailed hawk making noise from the trees.

In addition to all the common birds everyone wlse is seeing, we have a pair of rufous-sided towhees, and a brown thrasher at our feeders this year.

The carolina wrens come on my screened porch( there is no ceiling in it and they come over the top of the wall) and keep my porch screens cleaned up. They are very welcome!

I'm seeing a lot of huge crows yesterday and today on the grass. I hope they're attacking those miserable tulip-bulb stealing squirrels who I've seen much too often this year. I feel like Donald Duck in a Chip n' Dale cartoon.
I've got a couple of little brown guys who use my birdbaths. (Two birdbaths, no waiting). They both really get into it.
I've also seen doves and cardinals and a woodpecker.

I live in Antioch (bottom of Nashville.) I moved here in July, 2006. We built a deck and put up some bird feeders. I was and am very excited about all my birds. In CA, we only see little brown birds, pigeons and crows. Here I have seen black vultures (especially when there was a dead deer in the nieghboring woods), downy and red bellied woodpeckers, blue jay, house finch, carolina wren, northern cardinal, redwinged blackbird, mourning dove, tufted titmouse, american robin, mockingbird, canada goose, gold finch and one day a flock of cederwax wings in the parking lot at work by the airport. I love looking at the birds and adding something to my list. When do the hummer come? Thanks. Beth

I think if my memory is serving me correctly, you could see the hummers as soon as April. I remember one getting caught in our garage, which we had open while doing some garden work. We were able to show him or her the door. I didn't put out the hummer feeder until summer. I noticed at least 2 of them were fighting over them, so I bought a second feeder. I just love to watch them.

Maybe some else will chime in and confirm if I am thinking April is correct.

Judy

Here is a hummingbird map that I follow. It is pretty accurate. They usually show up here at our house around the first week of April.

Rebecca

Thanks for the hummer info. That map is great. It looks like I better get hopping on that feeder. BTW - I saw another loner cedar waxwing and some brownheaded cowbirds, today.

Last year we did not have a blue bird box so they decided to build their nest in my mailbox. We are in a rural area with little traffic and since the lid on our box only closed part way, I guess they saw that as a suitable dwelling. Our mailman was kind enough to let the birds stay, carefully placing the mail in the front of the box as I too was careful in taking it out. The birds were patient with us as well and raised 2 nests of babies.

This year they have 2 nice boxes where I can watch them from my livingroom window.

Does anyone know when the finches return?

Hi y'all! I'm in Hermitage...just outside Nashville.

We've got all the birds mentioned above plus a few more. We've had a male & female Tanager here the last couple years. They are pesky birds...continually attacking their own reflections on the mirrors of our parked cars.

Cedar Waxwing are just gorgeous. I love it when they visit.

I have seen an Indigo Bunting once in a neighboring pasture... oh how I'd love to have one visit my feeder or birdbath!

We usually can count on a visit by the hummingbirds around Tax time (April 15th) or as we like to refer to the day... "Tomato planting day!" :)

And finally, we have a pair of bluebirds nesting in our bluebird house. I think it has been up for about 4 years... maybe longer. Just God's way of teaching me to be more patient!

Tonight we saw a large bird carrying something to it's nest high atop a cellphone tower. I don't know what it was, maybe a falcon? Didn't fly much like a Hawk. I'll keep an eye out for a better view.

Y'all have fun birding!

Last year I put up a blue bird house for the first time. About 2 weeks later they started building a nest.I watched them most every day.But after thier eggs were layed some sparowws came in and knocked thier eggs out and took over the nest.The blue birds are working hard again this year but I've noticed the sparowws are annoying them again.I wish there was something I could do to help them,any suggestions?

I saw my first hummer just a few minutes ago !