FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Monroe County, IMBD

[Charlie <cmmbirds@xxxxxxxxx>]

IMBD May 10, 2003.  Monroe County, Tennessee
Charlie Muise & Tracey Everson (observers, one party all day)
Areas covered:  Chota, Cherohala Skyway, parts of Cherokee NF and
some back roads

Owling:  1.5 hours, covered 20 miles
Walking: 4 hours, covered 5 miles
Driving: 6 hours, covered 98 miles

Weather: foggy, 60 degrees at dawn.  Most of day was clear, 10-15 MPH
winds.  High of 87f

Species seen:  (sorry, this is in the order of the TWRA checklist,
not taxonomic order)
1 Great Egret
6 Great Blue Herons (3 active nests @ Chota)
1 Green Heron
1 Wood Duck (female)
21 Canada Geese (conservative estimate ? they were flying a lot.  Saw
one group of 16)
5 Mallard

1 Bald Eagle (believe it?s a 2nd year bird)
1 Broad Winged Hawk
1 Red-tailed Hawk (94th species of day, at 5 pm!)
1 American Kestrel (male, 95th species)
1 Black Vulture
12 Turkey Vulture 
1 Wild Turkey (hen)
3 Killdeer
2 Solitary Sandpiper
2 Spotted Sandpiper
1 Wilson?s Snipe
1 Ring-billed Gull (adult)

22 Mourning Dove
4 Yellow-billed Cuckoos
8 Eastern Screech-owls (in groups of 2, 3 and 3)
4 Chuck-will?s-Widows
7 Whip-Poor-Wills
6 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds
23 Chimney Swifts
2 Belted Kingfishers
4 Northern Flickers
3 Downy Woodpeckers
6 Pileated Woodpeckers
6 Red-bellied Woodpeckers

6 Acadian Flycatchers
9 Eastern Kingbirds
12 Eastern Phoebes
2 Eastern Wood-pewees
5 Purple Martins
52 Barn Swallows
8 Northern Rough-winged Swallows
11 Tree Swallows

33 American Crows
16 Blue Jays
19 Carolina Chickadees
2 Chickadee sp (believed to be Black-capped, but not seen
well-enough)
14 Tufted Titmice
3 Red-breasted Nuthatch
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
16 Carolina Wrens
1 Winter Wren

52 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
50 Eastern Bluebirds
12 American Robins
1 Veery
25 Northern Mockingbirds
4 Brown Thrashers
65 European Starlings
37 Cedar Waxwings (flocks of 12 and 25)

15 Blue-headed Vireos
51 Red-eyed Vireos
6 White-eyed Vireos
2 Yellow-throated Vireos

25 Yellow-breasted Chats (conservative figure ? they are everywhere
at Chota)
10 Ovenbirds
4 Northern Parulas  (seems very low, considering habitat we were in)
10 Black-and-White Warblers
4 Blackburnian Warblers
22 Black-throated Blue Warblers (more than expected)
19 Black-throated Green Warblers
2 Blue-winged Warblers (near the vacant eagle nest on road to Chota)
2 Canada Warblers
12 Chestnut-sided Warblers
5 Hooded Warblers (seems low, considering habitat)
1 Kentucky Warbler
4 Pine Warblers
4 Prairie Warblers
4 Worm-eating Warblers
3 Yellow-throated Warblers (number low, probably due to water noise)
6 Louisiana Waterthrushes (low, but can usually be heard over loud
water ? probably lost some in flooding)
15 Common Yellowthroats

5 Scarlet Tanagers (seems low, considering habitat)
3 Summer Tanagers
104 Indigo Buntings (counted conservatively. I worried they might
gang up on us ? we were constantly surrounded!)
41 Northern Cardinals
4 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
4 Dark-eyed Juncos
11 Chipping Sparrows (seems VERY low)
4 Field Sparrows
9 Song Sparrows
12 Eastern Towhees

37 Red-winged Blackbirds
15 Brown-headed Cowbirds
33 Common Grackles
22 Eastern Meadowlarks
3 Orchard Orioles
3 House Finches
20 American Goldfinches
3 House Sparrows



Notes:  This was just the second clear day after intense rains the
week before, which brough serious flooding to many areas.  Many roads
still had slicks of dirt showing where they?d been inundated.  Many
downed trees had been cleared only the previous day.

Fog in the morning probably prevented us observing several water
birds at Chota

Where were the raptors?  Shorebird numbers were low because of the
fog when we were in appropriate habitat.

Misses: Wood Thrush!!! Pied-billed Grebe, Osprey, Accipiters, grouse,
Gray Catbird, Yellow Warbler, American Woodcock, Swamp Sparrow,




=====
**************************************************
Charlie Muise, Senior Naturalist
Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont
Townsend, TN  lat 35 deg, 38'23"  long 83 deg, 41'22"

"Up, Sluggard, and waste not life; in the grave will be sleeping enough"
 - Ben Frankline, Poor Richard's Almanac

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