[TN-Bird] Maryville, Hiwassee, Fort Loudon Dam
- From: Charlie <cmmbirds@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 20:34:41 -0800 (PST)
Hi folks,
Home south of Maryville, Blount County
Fort Loudon Dam, Loudon County
Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge, Monroe/Meigs Counties
Today Tracey and I "test drove" a couple scopes that we're
considering buying - hey, any excuse to bird, right? We figured
Hiwassee would be the place to go, since it has lots of birds that
sit fairly still, at different distances, different angles and in
different light. We weren't disappointed.
It was hard leaving home, though. We've had 6 Purple Finches hanging
around for 3 days. Had a single Pine Siskin yesterday.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpeckers, many American
Goldfinches, couple Song Sparrows, dozen or so White-throated
Sparrows. WE even had SEVEN Yellow-rumped Warblers in one small
Flowering Dogwood. But looking out the kitchen window is *not* the
way to thoroughly check out a scope, we're told. :-)
On the way we stopped briefly in the cold wind at Fort Loudon Dam.
The 40-50 Ring-billed Gulls (ALL of which appeared to be adults?)
were joined by just a single Bonaparte's Gull. For just the 2nd time
in probably 30 or more trips there, I didn't see a Black-crowned
Night Heron. But this was perhaps my shortest trip there. A single
Red-tailed Hawk was the only raptor we could find. One Great Blue
Heron posed closeby on a rock so we could compare the scopes at
leisure - until the cold drove us to the car.
Enroute to Hiwassee, we saw 4 different American Kestrels at various
locations on I-75 and SR 58. Approaching the refuge, we came across
a number of Killdeer on the several mud flats. Once again, no
special species, but good looks through the scopes.
The "good" birding awaited us at the refuge. Waterfowl were good for
east tennessee. More Mallards than I've seen there before - at least
250. More Black Ducks than I've seen there before - at least 25.
More Redheads than I've seen there before - 14. 6 Hooded Mergansers,
5 Red-breasted Mergansers (seen from the cliff overlooks at the new
Cherokee Memorial Park) 3 fly-by Buffleheads (seen from Blythe
Ferry)2 Wood Ducks, 25 Ring-necked Ducks, 10 or 15 Gadwall, 3
Pintail, and a few dozen Canada Geese. Almost falling into this
category were about a dozen Double-crested Cormorants. Eyeing them
all greedily was a first year Bald Eagle - which quickly forgot it's
hunger when a dozen American Crows spotted it and decided to have fun
with the youngster.
We had 2 more American Kestrels just outside the refuge - just about
4 feet apart on a wire. Unusually intimate for this species this
time of year. Along the entry road we had 2 adult Red-shouldered
Hawks.
Oh, and a few thousand cranes wasn't bad.
With the wind, passerines were less impressive here than in our yard.
A few hundred Yellow-rumped Warblers at Blythe Ferry were nice, as
were several small flocks of Cedar Waxwings. But sparrows were
represented only by Chipping (a flock of at least 60 in a local yard
was nice) White-throated, Song, Savannah (just one) and a few Eastern
Towhees here and there.
=====
**************************************************
Charlie Muise, Senior Naturalist
Now living in Maryville, TN
Still working in Great Smoky Mountains
National Park
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes
http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus
=================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
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
========================================================
Other related posts:
- » [TN-Bird] Maryville, Hiwassee, Fort Loudon Dam
