Rob Younger emailed me early this am stating he saw what he thought were Common
Mergansers on the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon River near Richardson Cove,
Sevier County, so I went for a look. I easily spotted the mergansers asleep on
the water about 9:30am. I passed three times before I found a good pulloff, 1/4
mile away. When I got out of the vehicle and began walking toward them, they
immediately awoke, became wary and swam toward the middle of the river. I took
this long shot, 150 yards, to get documentation in case they flew; took the
photo, took another 25 steps and they were off, upriver (south) and were never
seen again. This is the same river where the Common Mergansers nested
(unsuccessfully) in 2016, but this observation is much farther downstream.
Maybe this is the same pair and it will take them a few more weeks to move up
into Greenbrier, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Keith Watson
Pittman Center, TN
Sevier County
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