On Sunday, Charlie Muise, Tracey Everson, Audrey Hoff and David Trently set out to do a Big Day in east Tennessee. We started at Tremont in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Blount Co, near Townsend) hoping for an owl or two...none. We drove up to Clingmans Dome on the TN/NC border, with a few stops in between - but still no owls. Parking at the beginning of the Clingmans Dome Rd (closed in winter) we walked up in the dark, hoping for Saw-whet Owl, but heard none. Our first bird came at about 6:25 a.m., when a couple of BARRED OWLs began to call to us. Watching sunrise in the clear cold skies of Clingmans Dome is a wonderful experience...why weren't the rest of you there?? :-) We missed a few of the birds we came there for - no raven, saw-whet, or crossbills...but we did find a LOT of DARK-EYED JUNCOs and several RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHes, BROWN CREEPERs singing, a few GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETs, AMERICAN ROBINs, PINE SISKINs, a single WINTER WREN and, the most unexpected bird up here, a pair of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDs flying with some robins. On the road back down toward Sugarlands Visitor Center, we spotted a RUFFED GROUSE alongside the road. NOTE: there is construction on the tunnels in the road between Sugarlands and Newfound Gap. There are traffic signals set there - and they have a maximum 10 minute red light time! We ended up waiting probably an average of 5 minutes at each light...so if you go there, be prepared to sit for up to 40 minutes waiting for green. At Sugarlands Visitor Center, we added several species, PURPLE FINCH probably the best, though Charlie may have seen a swallow or two fly over - though he wasn't feeling well ;-) Unfortunately, Charlie was feeling poorly enough that he decided he needed to end his participation in the Big Day attempt, so we dropped him and Tracey back at Tremont, and Audrey and I worked on deciding what we wanted to do...continue the Big Day, or get a big hot breakfast! You may have guessed, since I put "sort of" in the subject line, that we headed for a breakfast buffet at Shoneys, with plans to do a more liesurely birding day afterwards. Our next stop was Kyker Bottoms in Blount County (directions have previously been posted on tn-bird) This place is becoming one of the best wetlands in east Tennessee! There was plenty of standing water, with lots of vegetation for birds to hide in. Probably the best birds were the 50+ TREE SWALLOWs!!! A sure sign of spring. Also present: GREEN-WINGED TEAL (50+) MALLARD AM BLACK DUCK GADWALL HOODED MERGANSERs (females only, about 5) RING-NECKED DUCKs AMERICAN WIGEON PIED-BILLED GREBE LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE surprisingly, there were no Wood Ducks (that we could find), snipe, meadowlarks!!! or usually-present White-crowned Sparrows. From here we visited a few areas in Loudoun County, adding a few more expected birds - with RED-HEADED WOODPECKER in a wooded area west of Tellico Lake somewhat a surprise. We ended at Lenoir City Park which is, surprise, in Lenoir City! This can be a good birding site after stopping at Fort Loudon Dam, which had very few gulls, and several GREAT BLUE HERONs working on nests (not on the dam, but in the trees downstream). The Park added PINE WARBLER and FINALLY!!! our first RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET of the day! That would have been our "big miss" had we not found it there. I left out a lot of birds we saw, since this is not really a Big Day report...but we ended the day with 68 species. I think if we had continued the attempt at the Big Day, we would have reached 80, which was our original target number. We missed some easy ones because we didn't go where they can be found, but we also had plenty of time to chase them if we wanted - even after the long breakfast...mmmmmmmmmm. Get out to Kyker Bottoms if you can...and get up early enough to enjoy sunrise in the chill of Clingmans Dome in the Smokies!! David Trently, Knoxville, TN dtrently@xxxxxxx =================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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================