[Bristol-Birds] Northeast TN roundup - Rail, Herons, Scoter
- From: "Andrew Core" <andrewcore@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:12:13 -0400
Hello birders,
I mistakenly thought the Greene County field trip was today (it's next
Saturday) and was nonplussed at the scarcity of other birders when I showed
up at the Homestead Restaurant at 7:25am. I didn't realize my mistake until
I returned to Knoxville this afternoon and I spent the day wondering if I
would run into the rest of the group as I went from spot to spot (obviously
I did not!).
Since I was already out and about with a full tank of gas, I decided to see
if I could find the Walmart Distribution Center Ponds on my own. After a
few wrong turns (but spying a Brown Thrasher in the process) I made it there
about 8am. A VIRGINA RAIL was calling in the first pond as I stepped out of
the car, and I found 2 Savannah Sparrows and 5 Wilson's Snipe as I walked
around the first and second ponds. 5 Blue-winged Teal and 4 Green-winged
Teal were in the 2nd pond, and 8 American Wigeon passed overhead. 6 Tree
Swallows stayed on the fence as I passed them, and 2 Wild Turkeys were in
the fields on the way back out.
Two questions about this spot: I saw in a post someone mentioned a third
pond. From the satellite photos I see another very large pond on the west
side of the building - How do you access it? Just keep walking along
parallel to the railroad? Secondly, the eBird placemark for this spot seems
pretty far off, unless there are two Walmart Distribution Centers with ponds
in Greeneville. Anyone know why?
From there I headed up to Kingsport, and must have been behind Rick Knight
by an hour or twp, as I also visited the Riverfront Restaurant and the
Greenbelt at American Way. I saw the Spotted Sandpiper at the restaurant,
and then found two YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS at the Greenbelt by walking
to the right along the path from the end of American Way. They were across
from the first bench, about 30 feet up in a sycamore. I didn't continue
down the path - unfortunately I didn't know about Rick's Rusty Blackbirds
until I was in Bristol.
I visited Musick's Campground around 1:30pm and scanned the lake for about
an hour without finding much. "One more scan," I told myself and this time
found a Common Loon in Virginia waters. While watching it I noticed two
Horned Grebes also in the area. At this point it was really windy and I
hadn't seen much other than 7 Bufflehead, 10 Tree Swallows and a Bonaparte's
Gull with a completely black hood, but I scanned once more looking for the
scoter. As I was admiring the loon again through the scope, a large dark
duck with white secondaries flew though my field of view. The WHITE-WINGED
SCOTER flew toward me, passing into TN airspace before turning north and
eventually heading up the channel into Virginia. I was able to watch it
through the scope for about 90 seconds.
In all, a fun day - I also wandered through Hawkins and Hamblen Counties in
TN and Scott and Washington Counties in VA but didn't find much worth
reporting other than some beautiful countryside. Living in the desert
southwest for almost a decade has made me appreciate the color green!
Andrew
--
Andrew Core
Tucson, AZ (Knoxville,TN until May1)
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