FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Western Washington County

[MerlinZ02@xxxxxxx]

Birding Diary 1-19-04
Tom McNeil and myself (Rob Biller) ventured to western Washington County 
today to try and locate some of the hot birds in the area on a terribly cold 
and 
windy day.  Snow showers added to the fun as the 10-15mph wind kept it 
horizontal.  The snow fell most of the morning with a good portion going up my 
nose or 
in my eye.  Keebler Road felt like Musick's Campground.  Larry McDaniel once 
said that Musick's Campground in the winter was the coldest place on Earth 
under two thousand feet.  I thought of Larry's famous quote as I stood on the 
side of the road with my nose running and my fingers numb.  We struggled to 
hear 
peeps in the corn fields and see silhouetted birds fly over head.  We had a 
group of Horned Larks fly overhead before we scrambled back to the car to thaw 
out.  We next went to where Larry had mentioned he had the Lapland Longspur a 
day or two ago.  Having no luck there ( I can't remember the name of the road - 
[something] Bridge Road) we traveled across the Nolichucky River and turned 
right a road that looked promising.  This road snaked its way along the 
Nolichucky and back to a couple of large farms.  Interesting things along this 
path 
were: Black Vultures on the ground among the cows, White-crowned Sparrows, Song 
Sparrows, a Mockingbird, and a near miss with a Purina truck.  The Purina 
truck took up most of the small county road and while we were going slow and 
moved off the side of the road, it was going a little fast and didn't budge.  
We 
decided to go back to Keebler Road and try once again.  This time we had flybys 
of American Pipits and found group of Savannah Sparrows working the corn 
fields.  We did manage to get a good listen to a Lapland Longspur, but could 
not 
find the bird.  One more stop to [something] Bridge Road (this road is attained 
by turning left at the end of Keebler Road and making the next right) we had 
more Horned Larks flying over and a few Eastern Meadowlarks. Brrrr... I am 
still cold, but it was a fun day.

Rob Biller
Elizabethton, TN  


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