[TN-Bird] Cades Cove
- From: Charlie <cmmbirds@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: TN-Bird <TN-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 15:52:10 -0800 (PST)
Hi Folks,
We have a college consortium going on at Tremont, and today I got to
get out of the office and take some folks birding at the cove (west
end of Great Smoky Mountains NP, Blount County).
Being college students, I couldn't get them in the field until 9 am,
but we still saw some good birds.
- Northern Harrier - one female and one gorgeous gray male.
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - my first 3 of the year
- Bufflehead - 2 females at the sewage lagoons
- Yellow-throated Warblers - several in the Sycamores (where else?!?)
and rushes just west of Sparks Lane
- Yellow-rumped Warblers - at least 20 in the above location.
Interestingly, not a one had ANY hint of breeding plumage yet.
- Rough-winged and Tree Swallows - just a handful seen at various
times around the east end of the Cove.
- Wood Ducks - 8 in the small, new beaver pond just west of Sparks
Lane
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - a very rough looking female near the
lagoons
- Black-throated Green Warblers and Louisiana Waterthrushes are all
over the park in appropriate habitat!
On the negative side of things, the Red-shouldered Hawk nest near the
lagoons which was used at least the last 2 years, appears empty. If
anyone out there finds the new location, I'd love to hear about it
for monitoring purposes. I'm pretty sure they fledged one last year.
I don't divulge the specific location of nests in the park except to
park employees.
Another negative: the die-off of Snapping Turtles at the lagoons
appears to continue. I'm not sure of the specifics, but the park has
found over 50 dead snappers there in the last several months. I
understand they sent some out for necropsy, and that some unusual
(for turtles) disease was found, but it's not clear if thise is the
cause of death. We only saw one live turtle today - a female Eastern
Painted.
Good day!
=====
**************************************************
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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