Birding in East Tennessee

After watching Tennessee Men's Basketball survive the first round of the 2008 NCAA basketball tournament, I rode out to South Holston Lake to some familiar birding  haunts.  I watched the game with my step-dad and during the commercials we noticed a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in full breeding plumage in his yard and a Wood Duck (male) at his pond.  Here is the list from SH Lake:

3-21-08 Sullivan County, TN

Rooty Branch Marsh Area

Great Blue Heron - 1
Wood Duck - 2 (both male)

From the Top of South Holston Dam

Pied-billed Grebe - 1
Canada Geese - 7 (on nearest barren island) Gulls (most likely Ring-billed - on far barren island) ~50

Upper Weir Area Parking Area (Dam Side)

Bufflehead - 10
Pine Warbler - 1

Weir Dam (Oceola Island Parking)

Lesser Scaup - 1
Bufflehead - 28

Musick's Campground (6:30pm-7:30pm) * denotes Washington County, VA)

White-winged Scoter - 1

(White-winged Scoter was seen briefly, but was not found again after a boat sped through)

*Red-breasted Merganser - 15 (in Sullivan County too)

(Red-breasted Mergansers went into Washington County, VA when the same boat came through that spooked the White-winged Scoter)

*Horned Grebes - 8 (4 in Sullivan County, TN at one time)

(1 Horned Grebe was in full breeding plumage)

*Common Loons - 2

(both Common Loons were in partial breeding plumage)

Bonaparte's Gulls - 8
Ring-billed Gulls - ~200+

I briefly stopped at Washington County Park boat launch in Washington County, Virginia just after sunset and spotted 3 grebes out pretty far. They WERE NOT Pied-billed Grebes. They were either Horned Grebes or Eared Grebes, but were too far away and too dark to make an positive ID. I was going on silhouette ID to make them NOT Pied-billed. This is a location Tom McNeil and I found Eared Grebes at the end of January, so it is worth checking when one is out at Musick's. 1990-1992