Birding in East Tennessee

Haven't had a lot to write about lately.  I have a hard time birding a lot in the summer heat.

One thing though - I did make it down to see the Reddish Egret in Cocke County, Tennessee at Rankin Bottom (Douglas Lake).  It was only my second time seeing this bird and only the second record for Tennessee.  I was a bit lucky too.  The day I saw it was the last day it was seen at the location.  It stayed a long week then bolted south (at least I presume south...)

In a couple of weeks, Rick Knight's book "The Birds of Northeast Tennessee vol 2" will be given out.  My contributions were a few older pictures I took of decent birds in the area and I updated an older map.  Looking forward to seeing this book because there are so many contributions from so many good birders and Rick keeps meticulous records.

This past weekend - June 7-9, 2008 - Tom McNeil and myself ventured to West Tennessee to bird the Memphis area and Reelfoot Lake.  On Saturday (June 7) , in the Memphis area we visited the Ensley Bottoms area. Not having visited the area before, we basically hunted and pecked the area but still found some good birds.  The list that follows includes T.O. Fuller State Park:

E = Ensley Bottoms (Earth Complex)
TO - T.O. Fuller State Park

Canada Goose - E
Mallard - E
Blue-winged Teal - E
Northern Bobwhite - E
Double-crested Cormorant - E
Great Blue Heron - E
Great Egret - E
Cattle Egrete - E
Turkey Vulture - E
Mississippi Kite (5) - TO
American Kestrel - E
Killdeer - E
Black-necked Stilt (w/chicks) - E
Pectoral Sandpiper - E
Mourning Dove - E
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - E
Chimney Swift - E
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - E
Red-bellied Woodpecker - E
Northern Flicker - E
Pileated Woodpecker - E
Eastern Wood-Pewee - TO
Acadian Flycatcher - TO
Great-crested Flycatcher - E
Eastern Kingbird - E
White-eyed Vireo - E
Red-eyed Vireo - E
Horned Lark - E
Barn Swallow - E
C. Chickadee - TO
Tufted Titmouse - TO
Carolina Wren - TO
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - E, TO
Wood Thrush - TO
American Robin - TO
Northern Mockingbird - E
Starling - TO, E
Northern Parula - TO, E
Prothonotary Warbler - TO
Kentucky Warbler - TO
Common Yellowthroat - E
Hooded Warbler - TO
Yellow-breasted Chat - E
Summer Tanager - E
Indigo Bunting - E
Painted Bunting - female seen , male heard - E
Dickcissel - E
Red-winged Blackbird - E
Eastern Meadowlark - E
Western Meadowlark - E
Common Grackle - E
Brown-headed Cowbird - E
Orchard Oriole - E
Baltimore Oriole - E

From there we ventured over to Shelby Farms where we found Allan Trently finishing up with the volunteers on National Trails Day.  Here we found:

Mississippi Kites (24)
Horned Larks
White-eyed Vireos
Pileated Woodpeckers

and howling Coyotes responding to the many air sirens performing their noon day tests...

From here we travelled farther north of Memphis to the Shelby Forest Area / Park where we added:

Wood Duck
Wild Turkey
Black Vulture
More - Mississippi Kites (13)
Barred Owl
Downy Woodpecker
Yellow-throated Vireo
Fish Crow
Black and White Warbler
Cerulean Warbler

Also along the Mississippi River we had Least Terns.

We stayed in Jackson and after dark we had Common Nighthawks and early mornings we had Purple Martins.

On Sunday June 8 - Tom McNeil and I  travelled to Northwest Tennessee to Reelfoot Lake.  Here is our list:

Mallard
Wild Turkey
Anhinga (flying over the swamp at the Walnut Grove area)
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret (Black Bayou Waterfowl Management area)
Little Blue Heron (Black Bayou Waterfowl Management area)
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Mississippi Kite (5)
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Killdeer
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Barred Owl
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-headed Woodpecker (Lake Isom)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Eastern-wood Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great-crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike (4)
White-eyed Vireo
Blue jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Yellow-throated Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Summer Tanager
Field Sparrow (Lake Isom)
Grasshopper Sparrow (Lake Isom)
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Dickcissel
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Just returned from West Tennessee where I found this Prothonotary Warbler playing show off at Reelfoot Lake in Lake County.  I plan doing a write up about the trip - locations visited - and birds seen in just a bit from now. 

  Kirtland's Warbler


Kirtland's Warbler just outside of Mio, Michigan - May 15, 2008


I'm back!  My blog is back too!  I recently took a round robin birding trip to Ohio, Lower Peninsula MIchigan, Upper Peninsula MIchigan, Winsconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.  The main birding trip was to get the bird shown above - the federally endangered and very habitat specific Kirtland's Warbler!  As you may have guessed, I was successful in the trip goal of seeing this life bird.  Many of you who know me, know that I was pretty nervous about our timing to visit their breeding grounds near Mio, Michigan.  Every book or research site I visited on the Internet told me that a guaranteed sighting of this bird would be after May 20 and before they left in the early fall.  Our day to find this bird was May 15 and May 16.  I was afraid that we would travel all the way from Tennessee to to upper part of the lower peninsula just to find the bird was running late this year.  Glad these birds don't read books! 
We found it on May 15!


Clay-colored Sparrow just outside Mio, MIchigan - May 15, 2008

Not only did we have luck with this bird, we also had great luck just down the road from this bird of another life bird - Clay-colored Sparrow!  On the same day about an hour later.  We actually heard this bird driving behind the Forest Service tour guide and doubled back after the tour was finished to locate it.  I will have more on this trip a bit later.


Clay-colored Sparrow

While I was gone on this trip, the Technobohemia site was hacked by some phishers and everything came to a screeching halt.  I was real surprised to find it down when I returned but our ringmaster has worked hard to get our blogs back up.  Everything in the blog world is back to normal and should stay that way! 

The video below shows Buffalo Mountain burning on May 7, 2008.  I was at the ILAB when Josh Elliott any myself noticed how well you could see the mountain burning from 2+ miles away from our vantage point.  So we grabbed the video camera and filmed for about 30 minutes.  Josh then did a down and dirty edit and we posted it to YouTube.  It is not really birding stuff...but it is nature related and it will affect the birds on Buffalo Mountain.