Eastern Tennessee Trip Yields an Unexpected Consolation Prize, July 17, 2021, Cherokee National Forest

Although I set up a TN Needs Alert soon after arriving to western NC, I admit I haven’t checked the alerts religiously to see if there might be targets nearby to chase.  Though this past winter when I did check the Alerts regularly, they were most helpful in identifying several reliable rarities to try for.  And with 2 trips in February 2021 I netted 6 new TN statebirds plus one more just across the stateline into VA.  Pretty good results when I actually chose to focus on TN possibilities.

Then as the 2021 summer doldrums of birding started to set in, and local birding opportunities waned, I once again spent more time looking through the daily Needs Alerts for TN.  Most often the nearby targets were records of Red Crossbill.  They were seen in numerous spots, and typically only seen occasionally.  So since they may not be reliable, I never chased after them.  Instead, I decided to go after Crossbills in conjunction with a trip to chase after a rarity.  And that opportunity arose in mid-July when an Anhinga was reported at Boone Lake in Washington County, starting on July 13.  It was an hour and 45 minutes away so definitely within my “chase radius”.  The bird was reported 3 out of 4 days, so presumably a reliable one to chase.

Now that I had a rarity to chase, I went back to research Crossbill sightings.  I quickly found several recent records along Unaka Mountain Road not far off my return route.  This road generally paralleled the TN-NC state line, but was mostly in TN so birds I might hear or see would be in TN rather than in NC.  Definitely a possible site to try after completing my search for the Anhinga.

And then as almost an afterthought I wondered if there might be nearby sites for Swainson’s Warblers – another “need” for TN.  I know it’s late in the year to find singing warblers, but I’ve had pretty good experience with Swainson’s singing well into the summer.  And sure enough with a bit of research I found a few reports of Swainson’s in the general area, though not too close to Unaka Mountain.  I wasn’t expecting to find Swainson’s on this trip, but I would still keep my eyes open for the right habitat while heading to and from Unaka Mountain, and then maybe find some birds still singing. 

So now I not only had a rarity to chase, but I also had 2 possible but longer-shot regular targets to look for as well.  My trip was set!

It was an early start for me on July 17, and I rolled into the area around Boone Lake at about 8:30.  Several of the Anhinga sightings came from Herb Hodge Road which skirted the edge of the northeast portion of the Boone Lake wetlands.  The site was actually a wide spot in the Watauga River far upstream of the dam that forms the lake.  But only a portion of this area and adjoining vegetation was visible from this road.  In fact, a couple eBird sightings came from kayakers and others from restricted access sites.  But since I had no other options, I would have to be lucky that the Anhinga was roosting or foraging near Herb Hodge Road when I was there.  Soon after I arrived I found a couple pulloffs with views of small portions of the vegetation – but there was no Anhinga in view.  Then I drove a bit farther and came upon an opening providing a view of hundreds of feet of lush vegetation and likely roosting spots along the river.  But despite numerous scans, I could not find the target Anhinga.  A flooded field nearby yielded 4 species of waders, but not my target.

About an hour into my Anhinga vigil another birder pulled up.  He was from the area and had seen the bird on previous days.  He confirmed I was at the correct spot, and also mentioned it was sometimes visible perched near a bridge downstream on Austin Springs Road.  After a short stay looking with me, he offered to check out areas both upstream along the river, and downstream at the bridge.  A few minutes later he called to say that he had not found the bird.  I felt a bit better that even a local birder couldn’t find the bird, but only a bit.  I waited a total of 2 ½ hours, scanning potential perches and overhead hoping it might soar by, but all in vain.  I even went to the Austin Springs Road for a scan.  I saw lots of Cormorants that morning – but no Anhinga.  [As a postscript – the Anhinga was spotted in the same area the next day – luck just wasn’t on my side that day.]

Next I was off to try for the Red Crossbills on Unaka Mountain Road.  After a short ride I started to gain elevation and headed up into the mountains.  The vegetation changed to more lush deciduous forests with a few conifers.  Then as I entered the Cherokee National Forest I started seeing a few rhododendrons and then some small rhododendron thickets.  There were no recent Swainson’s Warbler reports from this area, but maybe I had found an area for this secretive bird.  I pulled over and played some tape but got no replies.  I got back on the road and now started to see even better more extensive patches of rhododendrons.  I pulled into the parking lot for the Rock Creek Recreation Area which was surrounded by dense rhododendron thickets.  I played a bit of tape and almost instantly a Swainson’s Warbler replied in the distance.  Success!  I made 2 more stops within a mile down the road and had a Swainson’s singing spontaneously at each stop. 

Swainson’s Warbler was #244 for my TN state list.  As shown in my statebird map below, I’ve now seen this species in 9 southeastern states shaded in blue, plus as a rarity in MA shaded in brown.  I still need it in 7 states where it is regular (the cross-hatched states).

That was a nice unexpected consolation after missing my key target, but I still had the Crossbills to try for.

I got back on the road and soon reached Beauty Spot Gap Road which would in turn take me to Unaka Mountain Road.  This was a rough gravel road that was also the route for the Appalachian Trail.  I started uphill and picked up some of the local regulars like Blue-headed Vireos, Veerys, Chestnut-sideds, Hoodeds, and Black-throated Blues.  Then I started to see some conifers mixed in with the deciduous trees – I was getting into Red Crossbill habitat.  But soon afterwards I came upon a particularly rough area on the road where a washout had occurred.  I got out of the car and sized it up – unfortunately I didn’t think my little Prius would be able to navigate over or around it.  I had reached the end of the road.  At least the road was barely wide enough to turn around so I didn’t have to back down the mountain.  That was frustrating.  Maybe on a future trip I could take a different route to get to Unaka Mountain Road.  And of course, there are other spots to try for Red Crossbill in TN as well.

So I not only missed the Anhinga as my key target, but also couldn’t get to the area where I might find Red Crossbills.  Good thing I was able to run into the right habitat for Swainson’s Warbler along the way.  That gave me only 1 of my 3 targets, but that was still 1 more than I had the day before.