[TN-Bird] Mount LeConte

Hi folks,

Tracey Everson and I hiked Mount LeConte in Great Smoky Mountains
National Park, Sevier County on Sunday.  

We hiked up Trillium Gap Trail without bins, but with ears wide open.
 Somehow we never heard a Louisiana Waterthrush (more about that
later)but we did have Black-throated Green, Black-and-white,
Blackburnian, Black-throated Blue Warblers, Hooded and Worm-eating,
(why all the "black" names, when most warblers have yellow on them?)
as well as Ovenbird and Northern Parula.  One singing Veery near the
top was nice complement to the several Wood Thrush down below.  But
the prizes were awaiting us.  At Trillium Gap we detoured to see
Brushy Mountain, a beautiful heath bald.  The sand myrtle was at peak
- a wonderful plant.  Chestnut-sided Warblers were all around, and
quite cooperative.  We ran across a nice gentleman who had a big old
pair of aged bushnells on his neck (must have a good chiropracter) we
asked him what he'd seen, and he was very happy to have spotted a
towhee.  We casually mentioned the Chestnut-sided, and learned that
he'd never seen one.  We gave him directions and 15 minutes later he
returned with a big smile on his face.  That felt good!

Heading back to LeConte, we stopped to watch another Chestnut-sided
when all of a sudden, what should pop out but... a Kentucky Warbler! 
Less than 200 meters from the lodge!  Seems very high elevation to
me.  And actually the first time I've actually SEEN one of those
tricky buggers in Tennessee.

Leaving the lodge, we were less than 200 yards down Rainbow Falls
Trail when we heard a singing Hermit Thrush.  It was then that the
inevitible Smokies rain showed up and our bird sightings nearly ended
- although we did hear quite a few Veery's- even though we'd only
heard one on the way up the trail.

Good day!

Charlie

=====
**************************************************
Charlie Muise, Senior Naturalist
Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont
Townsend, TN  lat 35 deg, 38'23"  long 83 deg, 41'22"

"Up, Sluggard, and waste not life; in the grave will be sleeping enough"
 - Ben Frankline, Poor Richard's Almanac

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