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 =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================