FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Acadian Flycatcher, Northern Waterthrush, etc. (Greene Co., TN)

[Don Miller <raincrow@xxxxxxx>]

May 7, 2005

Greeneville and areas of Greene County to the south and east

Before and after work today, I did a bit of birding and found a few
goodies.  Here's a quick rundown:

Acadian Flycatcher (Paint Creek Recreation Area);
Yellow-throated Vireo (Greeneville);
Red-eyed Vireo (8);
Blue-winged Warbler (Greeneville);
Nashville Warbler (Greeneville);
Northern Parula (Paint Creek Recreation Area);
Cape May Warbler (Greeneville);
Black-throated Blue Warbler (3, Viking Mountain Road);
Black-throated Green Warbler (6);
Yellow-throated Warbler (Viking Mountain Road);
American Redstart (Greeneville);
Northern Waterthrush (along Holly Creek, probably the same bird that I
saw and posted on May 4);
Common Yellowthroat (5);
Hooded Warbler (4);
Yellow-breasted Chat;
Summer Tanager (Greeneville);
Scarlet Tanager (Greeneville);
Indigo Bunting (9);
Orchard Oriole (4).

Interesting observations regarding the Northern Waterthrush--

The bird I found this evening sang as well as called.  This was an
unexpected treat, as I have seldom had the chance to hear it sing as it
passes through northeast Tennessee in the spring.  Most of my memories
of NOWA song are from northwest Montana, where I heard several birds
sing ten years ago.

Call notes are commonly given, though, so I wasn't surprised to hear the
bird utter its loud chink, which is noticeably different from the
somewhat similar loud call of Louisiana Waterthrush.  However, even
though I expected to hear it call, I was almost blown away by the call
notes that I heard near dusk.  I was over a tenth of a mile away from
the creek, across an open pasture area, but the call notes carried with
enough force and clarity that I could easily identify them as NOWA
notes, even from that distance.  This kind of thing is commonplace with
White-throated Sparrow and a few other loud-calling species, but I don't
recall ever having identified a warbler from a call note at that great a
distance.  Add to this the fact that the call notes had to penetrate the
vegetation in the riparian zone around the creek before crossing the
pasture and the whole thing is even more remarkable.

Don Miller
Greeneville, TN

*************************************************
       BRISTOL BIRDS NET LIST
Bristol Birds Net Photo Gallery located at:
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jwcoffeyy/album?.dir=/efd5

This is a regional birding list sponsored by the
Bristol Bird Club to facilitate communications 
between birders and bird clubs of Southwest Virginia
and Northeast Tennessee.  
--------------------------------------------------
You are subscribed to Bristol-Birds.
To post to this mailing list, simply send an email
to: bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, send
an email to bristol-birds-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
the one word 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
--------------------------------------------------
       Wallace Coffey, Moderator
         wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
           (423)764-****