Three Opportunistic Chases Nets Two Statebirds in Knoxville, TN, March 7-8, 2023

My wife and I scheduled a trip to Knoxville, TN in early March 2023 to take our dog to the University of Tennessee Veterinary School for some testing.  If we had spare time, that could present some statebird opportunities in a part of the state I don’t often get to.  Though at best my time would be limited, so the targets would likely need to be nearby.  I started to watch the eBird Needs Alerts during the week leading up to the trip but initially came up with no nearby targets.  But then the day before we left a report came in of a Tundra Swan in a small impoundment at a treatment plant a short distance east of Knoxville.  It was about 10 minutes off our route to and from Knoxville, so it was one to try for likely on the way home.  At least that gave me one to look forward to.  Assuming the Swan stuck around, that is.

We made the drive to Knoxville on the 6th, and that evening I re-checked my Needs Alert.  The Tundra Swan was still around, so that was good news.  And even better, two more of my “Needs” were reported that day no more than 15 minutes away – a Red-necked Grebe and a Black Scoter, both on Fort Loudoun Lake.  It sounded like I would have some free time in the middle of the day on the 7th, so it would be feasible to chase after both birds.  Suddenly I was up to 3 statebird possibilities. 

It turned out that I had about 2 hours of free time in the early afternoon of the 7th, which was perfect to bird nearby Loudoun Lake.  I first went to the boat ramp at Concord Park where the Red-necked Grebe had been spotted the previous day.  Comments from that sighting noted that the bird was with Pied-billed Grebes generally on the far southern part of the lake.  Unfortunately looking to the south meant looking into the sun that time of day, and my initial scans came up with just a couple Cormorants in the difficult lighting conditions.

Then I panned more to the southeast in somewhat better lighting and picked out a few Pied-billed Grebes in the distance.  Had I found the correct spot?  Sure enough a few seconds later I spotted the much larger Red-necked Grebe loosely associating with the Pied-bills.  The large yellow bill and longer neck were clinching field marks.  I tried some distant digiscoped photos but each time I got everything lined up the bird dove.  Here’s a picture of the reservoir with the Grebes about 2,000 ft out.

My statebird map for Red-necked Grebe is inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range.  The 4 cross-hatched states are those in its normal range where I’ve yet to see it.  And the brown-shaded states are those where I’ve seen it as a rarity – several southeastern states as a wintering bird, and 2 central states as a rare breeder.

Luckily it only took a few minutes to get the Grebe, so I quickly headed to nearby Carl Cowen Park where the female Black Scoter had been reported the previous day.  The bird was swimming in a distant tight flock of 35 diving ducks, so I figured my best shot at finding the Scoter was to look for that flock of divers.  Unfortunately, once again I was looking to the south into the sun – ugh.  Amazingly I almost instantly found a flock of divers – did I have the flock?  But like the Grebes, they were nearly a half mile away.  I counted 47 birds, and watched the flock for at least 45 minutes.  Unfortunately, not only could I not pick out the Scoter, I couldn’t even be sure of the IDs of the other ducks (though I assumed they were Ring-necks, Scaup and/or Redheads).  I bet I had the Scoter in view, but the flock was just too far away and lighting was so bad that I couldn’t be sure.  That was frustrating.

After getting negative results on our dog’s tests (yay!), we headed home on the 8th.  Luckily my non-birding wife agreed to let me take the 10-minute side trip to try for the Tundra Swan.  The bird was being seen now 3 days in a row in an impoundment at a sewage treatment plant along Route 160 in Hamblen County.  The small impoundment was right next to the road, so I hoped we would need less than 5 minutes to find my target bird.  We pulled over on the road shoulder even with the pond and I did a quick binocular scan.  Even though that large white bird should have jumped out at me, I couldn’t find it.  Had it moved on since yesterday’s sighting?  There were some cattails and other vegetation on the pond, so maybe it was a bit obscured.  And sure enough, with a closer look I found the Tundra Swan on the near shore partially hidden by cattails.  Here’s a shot with no magnification of the impoundment, and with an arrow pointing toward the Swan.

TN is now my 8th state where I’ve seen Tundra Swan as a rarity.  Though I still need it in a number of states where it is a regular migrant.

That gave me two new TN statebirds in less than an hour of birding time.  That’s pretty efficient birding, and very opportunistic given my time and geographic constraints.  And with the addition of 2 birds my TN statelist is now at 255.