[TN-Bird] East Tennessee Weekend

Headed east after work Friday with a quick and disappointing stop at Kingston 
Steam Plant.  The habitat here seems to just get better all the time, but the 
only birds present were 2 RB Gulls, a couple of Killdeer, 3 Lesser Legs, one 
Solitary and one Spotty and a small flock of Semi-sands.  After a night in 
Townsend, I started early morning on the Schoolhouse Gap Trail which is about 
half way to Cades Cove from the Townsend Y.  The trail is lightly used although 
popular with horsemen so one must watch his step!  This has to be one of the 
best spots in the state for breeding warblers.  Seen and or heard were BT 
Green, 
Yellow-throated, Ovenbird, Hooded, Black and White, Northern Parula, and 
Worm-eating is downright common here.  So is La Waterthrush which is easy to 
confuse vocally with Swainson's, the real prize on this trail.  I heard one 
bird 
sing a single song just above the group of blowdowns, and then farther up the 
hill, perhaps 100m below the bog, a very territorial bird was seen at close 
range.  I marked the spot which has a large log along the east side of the 
trail 
with an obvious y in the end in which I placed a sizable pine limb.  I next 
tried the very busy but usually productive Alum Cave Bluff trail, and in 
addition 
to the resident Canada Warblers and Veerys, a Brown Creeper was seen with 
several Blackburnian Warblers.  At the bluff, no sign of Raven or Peregrine.  
Despite some search, no BC Chickadees could be found here.  On to the higher 
elevations, again Raven proved elusive, and I finally had a pair of chickadees 
respond to the screech owl tape on the section of AT which leads to the shelter 
off Clingman's Dome Road.  I have had trouble several times in the past finding 
chickadees up there and thery are certainly not abundant now.
  I left mid-afternoon and drove to Elizabethton for the night, and on to 
Roan Mountain early today.  At least 2 different GW Warblers were found singing 
on territory at the site mentioned earlier in a post by Don Holt - about 3 
miles above the campground entrance at a spot where the road swings sharp left. 
 
There is a pullout on the right, and one bird is in the field behind the fence 
which has 2 different signs discouraging entry.  Least Flycatchers were common 
above this area from Twin Springs picnic area (no sign) to Overlook Drive.  
At least 4 were heard just driving along with the windows down.  At Carver's 
Gap, an Alder Flycatcher is singing right at the parking area - unfortunately, 
he seems to be in N Carolina!  Birding by state is a bit frustrating since all 
the good birds seem to be just over the line.  I hiked up the AT east to Round 
Bald and found 2 more Alder Flys singing, one not 50 feet into N Carolina.  
However persistence paid off as a pair was located at the saddle between balds 
which are nesting at least 100m into Tennessee.  No sign of Raven here either, 
4 finches flew over but didn't call and I couldn't be sure they were 
Crossbills or something else.  Another stop at Kingston on the long drive home 
was 
even worse with only a few Least Sands and a Semi Plover now by themselves.  I 
decided to check out Gallatin Steam Plant last, and the habitat here continues 
to deteriorate, water is high and the Phragmites has taken over the place.  
Despite this, there were a few birds: 5 Semi-Sands, one black-bellied Dunlin, 
and 
one Caspian Tern.


Terry Witt 
Murfreesboro Tn 37130      


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