Alan Troyer, Victor Stoll and I hiked the Appalachian Trail in East
Tennessee for three days over the weekend. We started at Fontana Dam in
North Carolina on (May 11th) and spent most of the time on the
Tennessee/North Carolina line along Blount County and Sevier County,
covering 35 miles up to Cling man's Dome on May 13th. As expected, the
variety of birds isn't that great up there when you compare to West
Tennessee, but there are some really great birds that you just won't find
around home.
Here are a few of East TN specialties that we got to enjoy over the
weekend:
RUFFED GROUSE, 11 total, 5 in the Mollie's Ridge area, 2 at Derrick Knob, 2
at Siler's Bald, 2 along the road just above Newfound Gap. Most were heard
only (drumming) but we actually got to see 3-4 of them, but only brief
glimpses in flight.
YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, 4 near Mollie's Ridge in North Carolina, 1-2 at
Rocky Top.
LEAST FLYCATCHER, 11 birds, including 3 pairs at Derrick Knob and 2 pairs
at Cling man's Dome.
COMMON RAVEN One at Shuckstack (in North Carolina) one at Rocky Top, and
one at Cling man's Dome.
BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, at least 30, a few scattered along the Blount
County line, increasing in numbers through Sevier County as we gained
altitude, becoming extremely Common in the conifer zone just before and
around Cling man's Dome.
WINTER WREN, 16-20 in the high altitude conifers near Cling man's Dome.
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, 15+ in the high altitude conifers near Cling man's
Dome.
BROWN CREEPER, pair on territory at Siler's Bald.
HERMIT THRUSH, pair on territory just West of Siler's Bald
VEERY, Extremely Common throughout, always a dozen or so making themselves
heard.
BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER, 100-200, Extremely Common in the high altitude
deciduous forest, less common in the conifers.
RED CROSSBILL, two birds, male and female passed over just higher than our
heads in the gap between Siler's Bald and Cling man's Dome (with a flock of
Cedar Waxwings, located by "chip-chip" calls).
Other species found in good numbers along this route that are harder to
find at the Western end of the State right now are Blue-headed Vireo,
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Canada Warbler, Blackburnian
Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Ovenbird Dark-eyed Junco and Pine
Siskin.
My biggest disappoint was not finding any high altitude conifers before
halfway through the last forenoon at the Cling man's Dome area, resulting
in zero nocturnal birding in Saw-whet Owl habitat, so Barred Owls were the
only Owl species encountered.
Ruben Stoll, Centerville TN
