[TN-Bird] Fun birding day!

From: "Ron Hoff" <aves7000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "TN-bird" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2014 22:47:28 -0500
TN-birders,

Dollyann and I were going to go down to Chickamauga dam (Hamilton Co.) in 
Chattanooga today to try to find the White-winged Scoters that have been seen 
there recently. When I checked TN-bird this morning I saw where Colin Sumrall 
had a Long-tailed Duck (LTDU) out at Concord boat ramp (on Northshore Drive) in 
west Knoxville, Knox Co. We decided to try for it first. He had the duck at 8 
am and we got there at 10 am. True to our luck recently chasing unusual birds, 
we could NOT find the Long-tailed Duck after about 30 minutes of searching.

So we drove down to the dam and found 2 White-winged Scoters right at the dam, 
mixed in with a nice flock of Redheads, Lesser Scaup, and American Coots. Since 
we were in the area, we also checked out the Webb Road embayment and saw 
nothing of interest there. Same at Booker T. Washington Park and Harrison Bay 
(all locations in Hamilton Co.). Few birds at both those places except lots of 
Ring-billed Gulls and some Bonaparte’s Gulls, plus the usual scattering of 
Pied-billed Grebes.

On the way back to Knoxville we decided to check in at the Concord boat ramp 
one more time to see if we could re-locate the LTDU. We got to the boat ramp 
about 3:30 pm and started scanning the lake. I have never seen an area of water 
that large as smooth as it was today. With zero wind it looked like a giant 
mirror and the viewing conditions were awesome. Dollyann was scanning with the 
scope when she found a winter- plumaged adult Red-throated Loon. We watched it 
for about 15 minutes and started calling some folks to get the word out, when 
the loon got up and made several circles around the area and then flew out of 
sight. So we then called the same people again and said don’t bother coming 
out, the bird has flown. Disappointed we couldn’t get anyone else on the bird, 
but elated to have seen it, I started scanning again for the LTDU, when I came 
across another loon that was not a Common. After looking at it for a while we 
determined that it was a Juvenile plumaged Red-throated Loon. So we (you 
guessed it) started calling folks again! Chuck & Lola Estes from Oak Ridge and 
Beth Schilling eventually joined us to try to find it, but by the time they got 
there the second Red-throated had flown off not to be seen again. DRAT! I hate 
when that happens. 

When Chuck & Lola got there we were scanning the lake again from the Concord 
boat ramp when I spotted an adult Bald Eagle flying over close to the sailboat 
marina on Northshore Dr. It eventually landed in a tree on that side of the 
lake. Scanning some more, Chuck eventually found a “darker than normal” duck in 
the same area. We both thought scoter of some kind and we got in the cars and 
drove over to the area on Northshore Dr. where there are twin bridges. One 
bridge is an old bridge that is now closed to traffic and used for fishing. 
It’s a good area to scan the lake. While there, we re-found the dark duck and 
it turned out to be a Surf Scoter. We eventually drove back over near the 
entrance road to the Concord Marina (the normal marina, not the one with 
sailboats only, which is west of the twin bridges) to see if we could get a 
better look at the scoter but could not re-find it. 

We finished up back at the Concord boat ramp where we ran into Mike Ryon and 
Dean Edwards and about 5,000+ gulls roosting on the water.
An intriguing day to say the least, even if we did drive about a million miles! 
Both the Red-throated Loon and the Surf Scoter were new Knox County birds for 
us, raising our county total to 211.

Great birding to all,

Ron Hoff & Dollyann Myers
Clinton, TN
[TN-Bird] Fun birding day!

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