[Bristol-Birds] Belated Report for Saturday March 26 and Sunday March 27
- From: merlinz02@xxxxxxx
- To: bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 18:41:16 -0500
Tennessee and Bristol Area Birders,
Sorry I am just now getting back to writing this report for last
weekend. Easter was spent with family until late in the evening when I
had to rush to get home to perform my hosting duties on AOL (Bird chat
Sunday nights 9-10). Monday and most of Today has been slammed at work
during the day and then again at night...
So...last weekend.
Don Holt was gracious enough to serve as a last minute replacement for
Tom McNeil, who fell ill over the weekend, to help me co-lead the 1st
organized bird walk at Davey Crockett Birthplace State Park. The first
half it was just Don, Leslie Burrell (Park Ranger), and myself. We
walked the perimeter of the fields and the river. The second half of
the walk we ventured over to the Bluff Trail and had some people (and
their son Sam) from North Carolina that were camping join us. It was an
enjoyable walk with pretty much the birds you would expect from the
park. The somewhat surprise bird (which I had seen there with Tom
McNeil in February) was Palm Warbler. The complete list follows and
birds are in Greene County unless otherwise noted:
Wood Duck
(in the creek when you cross the bridge heading to the park on Davey
Crockett Dr., straddling the line between Washington and Greene
Counties.)
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
(These birds were interacting with each other tremendously. I think it
was a territory thing as they gave their lesser heard call over and
over as to warn off another chickadee or to attract a mate - I couldn't
see the birds well from where I was hearing them.)
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Palm Warbler (2 in breeding plumage)
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch
After the morning walk in the park, Don and I decided to head on to the
Rankin area. The first stop was on Douglas Lake in the Dutch Bottoms
area (along 25E) in Cocke County:
Mallard
Green-winged Teal (~5)
Blue-winged Teal (~4)
Great Blue Heron (~4)
Osprey (on nest on tall concrete column in Douglas Lake)
Black Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Pectoral Sandpipers (~8)
Ring-billed Gull
Tree Swallow
Then it was on to Rankin Wildlife Management Area (Cocke County):
Blue-winged Teal (~12)
Greater Yellowlegs (~4) - told by size as compared to Pectoral
Sandpipers and slight upturned bill (on at least 1)
Pectoral Sandpipers (~5)
Osprey (Pair on nest on top of Coal Tipple)
(and an Osprey on the third nest for the day as we were leaving
crossing the bridge out the back way)
The next leg of the trip was an adventure in following directions
(which I apparently did poorly) and reading Delorme Tennessee Gazetteer
(which Don did expertly). Never-the-less we found some good bird
country and a fairly near store for future organized Rankin Wildlife
Management Area field trips. While we didn't have many good birds in
this new birding area (Don really tried hard to pick out some
blackbirds in the big group we spotted), we picked just some number
birds for our day list:
Killdeer
House Sparrow
European Starlings
Our last birding leg of the day was to Fish Hatchery Road Exit (off
I-81) in Greene County. Our first stop on Turner Lane proved to be our
best stop of the day. This is where we found the American Golden Plover
still in winter(basic) plumage. Don pulled out the mega scope (a Mead
Celestial Telescope) and we nailed down a number of field marks: The
bold - white supercilium, the short, thinner bill (about the length
back to the eye), and Don sweet talked it to reveal the gray (instead
of black) under the wing. Don Miller reported that the bird was still
there as of Monday March 28. I was real disappointed that I had
forgotten my digital camera because I would have been able to make
great photographs.
List for Turner Field
American Golden Plover [nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage]
Pectoral Sandpiper (1)
Killdeer (many)
Starlings (many)
Red-winged Blackbirds
Eastern Meadowlarks
There were many blackbirds and we didn't get to sort through them all
like we would have really hoped to have. After taking the time to nail
down the American Golden Plover, we simply ran out of daylight. Don
Miller reported Brewer's and Rusty Blackbirds near this location on
Monday and I would think that there would have been some there
Saturday. I still need a Brewer's Blackbird!
The end of the day was spent on Toby Ln where we caught up on our bird
list while listening to the following frogs:
American Toads
Spring Peepers
Upland Chorus Frogs
Leopard Frog
Pickerel Frog
Sunday -
Shorter time in the field today with Larry McDaniel and Don Holt. We
checked for Ravens nesting at Watauga Quarry with no success. We did
have some interesting birds at Austin Springs:
Austin Springs (Washington County, TN)
Pectoral Sandpipers (~6)
American Pipit (1)
Spotted Sandpiper (1)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (heard only)
We also observed American Toads blowing their throat out like bubbles
while singing. I had never seen this before and it was an amazing
experience to observe.
We ended the day around noon by visiting Wing-deer Park. While very
little birding could be done here as it was pretty quiet Chickadee,
Titmouse, Flicker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Phoebe) , we did have
some of the more early and real pretty wildflowers in bloom:
Cut-leaved Toothwart
Bloodroot
Virginia Bluebells
Those are the common ones that I remember.
All in all it was a couple good days in the field. Now if someone would
just do something about these darn gas prices! :)
Rob Biller
Elizabethton, TN
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