Cove Lake State Park Campbell County, TN North of Knoxville As is my "tradition" with fast moving fronts of any sort, especially snow and high winds moving in, I made a quick run through Cove Lake State Park late afternoon. There was a huge raft of ducks close to the viewing tower where I immediately noticed some very "white" ducks among the group. I thought at first glance through the sleet that they might be the Common Mergansers still present I found last weekend, however quickly realized how much smaller they were. There were (6) COMMON GOLDENEYES - 2 being handsome males and 4 females What an exciting find to me! A nice mix of diving ducks were present, many being first sightings at the park this Winter season - Canvasback/ Lesser Scaup/ (30+) Ring Necked Duck (16) / Redhead (8) 1 Ruddy Duck / a couple Canvasbacks as well as the usual dabblers -Mallards. and Gadwall along with (9) Northern Pintail~ (2) Green-winged Teal and 1 American Widgeon around the edges. The lake has filled in quite nicely with the recent rains, so the diving ducks seemed happy. I know I was! What a great species for me for East TN., as well as a first record for Cove Lake St. Pk. to add to the checklist I compiled for the park. However, the moment was short lived as an Immature Eagle took a swoop at the group and they scattered to other parts of the lake. They were last seen on the far side near the interstate. This has been a "strange" season for Cove this year, as the lake was drained a couple times to hopefully kill off the invasive millfoil algae.Due to this, I have not seen a single American Coot even on the lake this winter. Just 3-5 years ago, there were 50-100 present each winter. The Eagles are fond of Coots, so they have been rarely seen this winter either. When I got home late afternoon with light sleet falling, the feeders were alive with common yard species, as well as several Purple Finch and my first for this winter Fox Sparrow. Nell Moore Caryville, TN N. of Knoxville TN _____________________________________________________________ Giving Away over 100 Fabulous Prize Enter for your chance to WIN in the TotalBeauty.com NYC Sweepstakes! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2121/fc/JKFkuJi7JGC1Sx4L7emrhJG1enogyRYl8iBp3Hk6oLyEJ3cn9KzQy8/ =================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 _____________________________________________________________