[TN-Bird] Cherokee Dam area - still great birds
- From: "Ron Hoff" <aves7000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "TN-bird" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 1 Feb 2014 19:11:27 -0500
TN-birders,
Dollyann & I joined Frank Bills and Sharon Bostick on a trip out to Cherokee
Dam, on the border of Jefferson and Grainger counties, this morning to see if
the White-winged Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, and Red-breasted Mergansers that
Dollyann & I found Thursday were still around. They were.
We got there around 9:30 am and found 11 White-winged Scoters way out in the
middle of the lake, mixed in with a large flotilla of gulls. We did not see the
Long-tailed Ducks or the RB Mergansers immediately. Our viewing was done from
the end parking lot on the south side of the dam, and from the middle of the
causeway going out to the parking lot. While we were at the parking lot,
Dollyann spotted the Long-tailed Ducks flying by, heading to where we saw them
from the middle of the causeway on Thursday. We went back over there, expecting
to find them in that area, but there was a fishing boat there and it must have
caused them to keep flying. We eventually found them a long ways off in a cove
more to the south. It was a view at 60x in the scope, but at least we re-found
them. Today there were 5, where on Thursday we only had 4.
While we were at the dam, we met a nice couple who were birding there also,
John and Theresa O’Barr. They followed us over to the Cherokee Dam Grainger Co.
boat launch, which is the road down to the lake on the north side of the dam.
This is off highway 375, just past the north end of the dam. Birds were few
here, but while we were here, we picked up a flock flying towards us and it
turned out to be 11 Red-breasted Mergansers. On Thursday, we only had 6.
John & Theresa had told us about some White-winged Scoters in west Knoxville at
a subdivision called Jefferson Park, in Knox Co., so we decided that on the way
home, we would check it out. Good move. We found 3 adult male White-winged
Scoters in an area of open water (the rest of the water here was still frozen).
This subdivision is on the right side of the road about 0.5 miles past the park
called “The Cove”, which is the small park just west of the sailboat marina on
Northshore Dr. (which is about a mile west of the Concord roundabout). The
entrance to the subdivision is just before the YMCA. Go in and drive straight
up and over the hill until you come to a lane on the right called
Charlottesville Blvd. Go right here to the end. There is a home under
construction and we parked here and found the birds on the lake. Great looks at
the scoters. Thanks to John & Theresa for the tip. WARNING – the ice here will
melt very soon, and the scoters are likely to move on. If you want to see these
birds, I suggest going first thing Sunday morning.
Great day to be out and about. But then again you can say that about any day
birding!
Great birding,
Ron Hoff & Dollyann Myers
Clinton, TN
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