[TN-Bird] TOS Field Trip East Tennessee Technology Park
- From: "Chuck/Lola Estes" <chucklola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2013 18:39:18 -0400
4/28/13, 7:45 to 11:00 am
East Tennessee Technology Park, Roane County, Oak Ridge, TN
Most participants for the TOS outing to the Oak Ridge Reservation East
Tennessee Technology Park (formerly K-25 Site) wisely chose to avoid the
rain and thunder storms. Tony King did make it as the rain let up for about
1 ½ hours. So the two of us hit about 4 stops and had some nice early
warblers singing after the rain. At the Horizon Center, we had good looks
at Blue-winged and Prairie Warblers. A Northern Parula and two Kentucky
Warblers sang but did not appear. We also had White-eyed and Red-eyed
Vireos. At the North Boundary Trail we had Indigo Buntings, Blue-winged and
Common Yellowthroat at the power line cut. The rain started again so we cut
the North Boundary Trail short and drove over to the P-1 Pond birding trail
at the ETTP. Parking is only allowed on the east side of the pond. Here we
had 5 Wilson Snipe, 10 Solitary Sandpipers, 3 Lesser Yellowlegs, and one
Spotted Sandpiper in a flooded grass field. The sparrows were busy in the
rain and we found Song, Savannah, Swamp and three nice White-crowned
Sparrows. Swallows were undeterred by the rain and we had Tree, Northern
Rough-winged, Barn, and Cliff Swallows around the pond. An eagle nest has
been active for the last three years just across East Fork Poplar Creek
(west) of the P-I Pond spillway. We saw an adult standing guard at the nest
but no sign of young. Our last stop was the Beaver Ponds off Gallaher Road
on the west side of the ETTP. The rain was relentless but Tony and I were
rewarded with a Merlin that stayed perched long enough for us to scope it
under the umbrella. We did not see the pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers that
have been consistently present the last two weeks. We were finally drenched
and ready to dry out so we packed it in.
Thanks to Tony for the company on a very wet day!
Chuck Estes
Oak Ridge, TN
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