(east Tennessee - counties are east of Knoxville) On Saturday, Nov. 4, after a successful trip to see the INCA DOVE in Morristown, Rasmus Larsen and I visited a few birding spots on our way back to Knoxville. At Panther Creek State Park, from the Cherokee Lake overlook, we saw a single COMMON LOON and a BONAPARTE'S GULL. There were a few other gulls in the distance, but didn't try to id them. A WINTER WREN was also seen at the park. We next stopped at the Mossy Creek Wildlife Viewing Area near Jefferson City. Only ducks here were a couple of MALLARDs. Highlight was a few RUSTY BLACKBIRDs. Another WINTER WREN showed itself. Sad news is that much of the open, non-flowing water there is covered with vegetation which I believe is an exotic plant. It is thick enough to prevent ducks from swimming through. In hopes of seeing an assortment of water birds and gulls, we next visited Cherokee Dam on the border of Jefferson and Grainger Counties. We were disappointed with just a few AMERICAN COOTs and a PIED-BILLED GREBE. There was some good birding here along the dam and the trails though, with BROWN CREEPER, AMERICAN PIPITs, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW (these seem to be easier to find all over the area this year), HERMIT THRUSH. A TVA security guard told us of a nearby Bald Eagle nest. He said it had produced young the past two years. He gave us directions to it, but we couldn't find it. Bald Eagles are seen in that area regularly, and he described seeing a bird catch a fish from the lake while flying over, like an eagle (not diving into the water like an Osprey). Will have to go back up to check on that. David Trently Avian Pursuits Nature Tours Knoxville, TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________