Carter and Unicoi counties, upper East Tennessee May26-29 The long holiday weekend allowed me to make a trek from the low hills of middle TN to the mountains of east TN for some "high elivation" nature study. On the lower slopes of Unaka Mt., Unicoi Co., in the rhododendron thickets from 2,500 to 3,000 feet, BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLERS were common. Here I also got my minimum yearly requirement of VEERY song! Veerys are seen at Radnor in Nashville in low numbers during migrtion but I don't usually hear them sing. At the spruce/fir zone at aprox. 4,000 ft. CANADA WARBLER was heard, but not seen! MAGNOLIA WARBLER, heard and seen and CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLERS were encountered in the more open areas on top. ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS were heard and CEDAR WAXWINGS were also present. Butterfly species of note on Unaka were MOURNING CLOAKS along the road and AMER. COPPERS in the meadows. I stayed on a private farm in the Hampton area of Carter Co., at aprox. 2,500 ft. elivation. The highlight sighting of this area was a RUFFED GROUSE with a total of 9 chicks in tow! They could not have been more than a few days old. Grouse are resident on this farm, I've seem them on previous visits here at other times of the year, but the timing was right since this is the nesting season. Thanks to local expert Don Holt I was able to add to my butterfly and dragonfly list. We found APPALACHAN EASTERN TIGER SWALLOWTAIL and Don helped me with fine points of identification. Despite the overcast and misty weather we also found an emerging COMMON BASKETTAIL dragonfly and FRAGILE FORKTAIL and AURORA damselflies. Other dragonflies found in the area were: Gray Petaltail Great Blue Skimmer 12 Spotted Skimmer Eastern Pondhawk Richard Connors Nashville TN =================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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================