FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Great Smoky Mountains NP

[David Trently <dtrently@xxxxxxx>]

east Tennessee, Sevier County

Over this past weekend, I was able to spend parts of Saturday and Sunday 
birding in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Saturday was a bit foggy 
with an occasional misty rain (with a more steady rain after about 6:00 p.m.) 
but Sunday was a beautiful sunny day.
I'd like to report here two birds of note.

1) On Sunday, we had great looks at a VESPER SPARROW near the Sugarlands 
Visitor Center (VC). It was feeding on the ground and perching in trees 
between the VC and the Park Headquarters. I had previously seen a Vesper 
Sparrow in this area on April 13, 1997

2) On Saturday, a Euphagus blackbird sp. was seen on the NC side of the 
parking lot at the end of the road to Clingmans Dome. The bird was either a 
Rusty or a Brewer's Blackbird. It had an obvious pale eye plus the tail and 
bill were much shorter than a Common Grackle. In the misty rain, it was 
difficult to determine if the bird had any rusty edgings to its feathers, but 
we did not see any hint at all of streaking or barring. We also could not see 
any glossy reflections in the head or neck area, but it appeared solid black.
On Sunday I was back in that area with another birder when I heard a blackbird 
approaching (I don't know how to distinguish a Rusty from a Brewer's by call 
note) and hoped it might be the one from Saturday.
The weather was very different on Sunday, with the sun shining brightly behind 
us as the bird flew past. I first noted the pale eye and short tail and then 
the reflection of iridescent blues/purples off the head and neck. Again, there 
was no sign of any streaking or barring - no rusty coloration at all.
The bird landed in the top of a tree (too far away for a photo, but close 
enough to give decent looks). I was still able to see the glossy colors in the 
head feathers, and no rusty feather edging at all.

We determined this to be a male BREWER'S BLACKBIRD. It was seen flying from 
the NC side to Tennessee (we used a GPS device to help us decide where it was 
seen).

Finally...there were at least 5 YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERs singing around the 
Sugarlands VC, plus a few BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLERs and 2 LOUISIANA 
WATERTHRUSHes. No Northern Parulas were found either day. A good number of 
BLUE-HEADED VIREOs were throughout the area.
A BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER was seen near the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in NC.
A single RUFFED GROUSE was feeding, in the rain, along the Clingmans Dome Road 
on Saturday evening.

David Trently
Avian Pursuits Nature Tours
Knoxville, TN

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