One Expected, and One Unexpected, Statebird, Carver’s Gap, Carter County TN, September 28, 2021

Red Crossbills are regular in eastern TN along the TN/NC stateline.  But as is always the case with Crossbills, their distribution and abundance is highly dependent on the quality of the local cone crop.  Back in August 2021 I made my first attempt to find them in TN in Unicoi County but couldn’t reach the location where they were being reported at the time due to poor road conditions.  Then in September I started seeing numerous reports from Carver’s Gap, some mentioning how great the local cone crop was.  It was sounding like I had another location with chaseable Red Crossbills worth a trip into the mountains.

But before I made my final plans I needed to see if I might have other targets nearby.  I need quite a number of regular passerine migrants for my TN list, and several were being seen at scattered locations in eastern TN.  There were a couple hotspots in the general area of Carver’s Gap with multiple reports of my migrant targets, but because the route through the mountains was on very slow twisty turny roads, driving times to bird both Carver’s Gap and migrant hotspots in the same day were excessive.  So the migrant spots would have to wait for a future trip.

The next issue I needed to tackle while planning my trip was to make sure I could tell which state the Crossbills would be in if I was lucky enough to find them.  It turns out that the Appalachian Trail, the key trail in the area, weaves back and forth from TN to NC.  And even the parking lot at Carver’s Gap was part in TN and part in NC.  I downloaded a couple maps that nicely overlayed the stateline, the AT, and the roads in the area which would be a good tool to tell me which state the birds might be in.  I was all set for my trip.

I left home early in the morning of the 28th to make the roughly 2-hour drive to Carver’s Gap.  As I climbed in elevation nearing the stateline it became increasingly windy.  And as I reached the clearing at Carver’s Gap the winds were howling. 

And just as I was beginning to worry if the strong winds would keep birds from flying around I spotted a Merlin flying low over the site.  That’s one I need in TN, so this was my first test to see if I could tell what state it was in.  I watched if for about 10 seconds, first to my west and then flying out of view to the east.  I happened to be parked almost right on the stateline at the time, so that put the bird first in TN and then in NC.  That was most unexpected!  And I hadn’t even gotten out of the car yet! 

Now it was time to focus on the Crossbills.  I got out of the car and walked toward the west end of the parking lot, putting me firmly into TN.  It was extremely windy in the open, so I took a small trail off the parking lot leading into the protected woods to get out of the wind a bit.  I found a couple migrant warblers though nothing new.  Then just a few minutes after leaving my car I heard the characteristic “kip kip” calls of a Red Crossbill overhead.  That was easy!  Within 10 minutes I had already added 2 new birds to my TN list. 

I joked with myself that maybe I should just quit right then and go home.  But there were a couple migrants moving through the trees so I decided to stay and see what might show up.  Unfortunately, most just passed low overhead without stopping, so I couldn’t come up with any migrants of interest. 

But the Red Crossbill show continued.  I had a flock of 4 birds fly in from NC and land nearby in TN, including one male that perched nicely in the top of a conifer.  Here are 2 shots I took holding my phone up to my binoculars.  What a cone crop!

And just when I thought the Crossbill show was over, a male landed near me on the road shoulder to do some gritting.

 Which allowed me to walk right up to it.

And then a female flew in to join him.

What an amazing Crossbill event!

After about an hour at Carver’s Gap I decided it could be worthwhile to go downhill out of the mountains to try to get out of the wind and look for some migrants.  The winds dropped soon after I left the Gap, and a few stops along the road in good woodland habitat yielded a few warblers but no additional target birds.  The passerine migrants would have to wait for future trips. 

With the addition of Merlin and Red Crossbill my TN statelist is now at 248.  My statebird maps for these two species are inserted below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen those species in their regular range, the cross-hatched states are those in the regular range where I still need them, and the tan states are those where I’ve seen them as a rarity.  After two years birding in the area I’ve now seen both species in all the nearby southeastern states.

 

Two Statebirds at Rankin Bottoms, TN, September 19, 2021

Douglas Lake is a TVA reservoir on the French Broad River in eastern TN.  Falling water levels in summer and fall can expose mudflats at the upstream portion of the lake called Rankin Bottoms, making it a well-known shorebird hotspot.  But that only occurs when water levels are just right – too high and there’s no mud; too low and there’s way too much mud and the best habitat is too far away for IDs.  I’m pretty sure I birded there many years ago, in fact decades ago, during my travels in eastern TN.  But my memory of the site is fuzzy at best.

Early in the summer 2021 shorebird season water levels at Rankin Bottoms were too high and shorebirds were limited.  Interestingly, this was principally caused by flooding rains near where I live in the western NC mountains near the headwaters of the French Broad.  But then by September water levels must have dropped because on 9/15 I got an eBird TN Needs Alerts featuring Buff-breasted Sandpipers at Rankin Bottoms.  Birders were finding a dozen or more species of shorebirds there, including Wilson’s Phalarope, Golden-Plovers, and Sanderlings.  Not to mention White Pelican, Laughing Gulls, and Caspian, Black, and Forster’s Terns.  Although all of these are inland rarities, only the Buff-breasted would be new for my TN state list.  You see years ago I had many business trips to Memphis, TN and I frequently birded at Ensley Bottoms with local birding legend Jeff Wilson.  That spot is the sewage treatment facility for the city of Memphis and I accumulated a large list of shorebirds and waterbirds there over the years.  But never a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. 

Then on the 16th 2 Avocets were reported at Rankin Bottoms – another potential TN statebird for me.  That was enough to push me into planning a trip to eastern TN.  I reached out to my birding buddy Bill Hooker to see if he might want to come along.  It turns out that Bill had been to Rankin Bottoms earlier in the season and as a result knew the site quite well.  And since shorebirding wasn’t too fruitful on his earlier trip, he was game for going along with me for another try.

As our planned trip on the 19th neared, the Needs Alerts gave us some good news and some bad news.  First the bad news – the Avocets were one-day-wonders.  Then the good news – the Buffies continued with as many as 3 reported.  And more good news – a number of passerine migrants were also being seen there, including several Cape May Warblers which was another possible statebird.  It turns out that a long peninsula sticking into the reservoir is nicely vegetated in brush and trees and can be quite a migrant magnet.  Now with 2 statebird targets I was all set for another trip into eastern TN.

We were on the road shortly after 6 and soon had our first good bird of the day – a Barred Owl flew over the highway as we were heading north from Asheville.  A new bird for my Buncombe County list.  Was that an omen for what was to come?

A couple hours later we were pulling into Rankin Bottoms and got our first look at the mudflats – there were many, many acres of possible shorebird habitat.  Were the birds going to be too far to identify?  We stopped at the first overlook where the road crosses the railroad tracks, the spot where most of the shorebirds were reported, and did a quick binocular scan.  There were scattered small shorebirds in the distance, some several hundred yards out.  This was going to be difficult.  Then I noticed some closer birds – it was a small group of Sanderlings.  Now it was time for scanning of the more distant sections of the mudflats.  Eventually I was picking up the continuing Wilson’s Phalarope and 2 Golden-Plovers far in the distance.  But despite lots of effort I had no luck with my key target – the Buff-breasted Sandpipers.

With each of our scans we picked up additional shorebirds well in the distance, but many were too far to confirm the IDs.  And complicating the issue was that we were looking off to the east into the morning sun.  I worried that even if a Buff-breasted was still around it might be too far away.  As examples of what we were dealing with, Bill took numerous highly magnified pictures of birds on the flats, and here are his best pictures of a Golden-Plover and the Phalarope.

We talked about moving on to other overlooks to see if we could find the Buffies elsewhere but decided to continue to scan from the railroad track spot a bit longer since that’s where they had been reported.  And I’m glad we did, because with another scan of the distant flats I picked up a mid-sized shorebird that was walking in a more upright manner.  I focused on this bird and eventually could see that it had a brown chest and scaly back – I had a Buff-breasted Sandpiper!  That sure was difficult.

My statebird map for this species is inserted below – states where I’ve seen it in its regular range are in blue, cross-hatched states are those where I still need it in its normal range, and the numerous eastern brown states are where I’ve seen it as a rarity.  I put TN in the Buff-breasted’s regular range as the western edge of the state is within its normal migration route.  Though it’s certainly a rarity this far east in the state.

Now that we finally had our key target we moved on to the north a bit to check out the flats from other overlooks.  We eventually added a few more shorebird species, giving us 12 species for the morning, including finding a rare Knot (but still not a new statebird for me). 

Later we found a spit that had a small flock of Ring-billed Gulls, and with a closer look found 2 immature Laughing Gulls mixed in.  We were also able to find the continuing Black Tern, and discovered a nice breeding plumage Common Tern.  Here are 2 more of Bill’s photos – a shot of the spit in the distance and a close-up of the Black Tern.

Next we turned our attention to the landbird migrants.  We started walking north along the peninsula through the brushy woods and soon ran into a few Yellow Warblers and Redstarts.  A bit farther along I got a brief glimpse of a warbler showing considerable yellow below with streaking.  Eventually I got good looks at the target Cape May Warbler.  Nice to be able to color in TN in my statebird map, though I still need it as a regular migrant in quite a number of eastern and central states

We eventually saw a second Cape May, and ended up with 7 warbler species in total.  Not bad for a hotspot known for its shorebirds.

As we walked back to the car we checked out the mudflats one more time and realized the total number of shorebirds had diminished significantly.  Looks like we got to Rankin Bottoms just in time.

With the addition of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper and Cape May Warbler that brings my TN statelist to 246.  Nice to be able to continue to add a few statebirds in this neighboring state.

Golden-winged Warbler, Greenville Watershed, SC, September 18, 2021

I’ve been participating in the Greenville County Spring and Fall Migration Counts for a couple years now.  On each count I’ve covered some excellent birding spots in northern Greenville County just across the line from NC.  But this year I’ve been focusing on my Polk and Rutherford, NC County lists so I hated to pull myself away from those counties near the peak of migration time.  But I needed to honor my commitment to the Greenville County Fall Migration Count, so I began to plan for the Count.  Although the hope as always was to find a new SC statebird, there were now very few possible targets left in the upstate of SC, and all are quite rare.  For flycatchers I need Olive-sided, Willow, and Alder.  And for warblers I need Golden-winged, Mourning and Connecticut.  Like I said, all are pretty rare.  Though this year has been pretty good for Golden-winged in western NC, so perhaps that one had my greatest chances.

The most notable part of my Count territory is the watershed area for the Greenville reservoir.  This spot has tremendous deciduous woodland habitat – some of the highest elevation woodlands in SC.  There are just 2 roads that wind through this habitat.  My greatest bird numbers are along Saluda Road, principally because the road has next to no traffic and lots of opportunity to pull over or even just stop while on the road.  The other road I bird in the area is Old US Highway 25, which has a little more traffic and fewer places to pull over, so my tally along this road is typically a bit lower. 

I started this year’s Fall Migration Count shortly before dawn right at the NC/SC stateline and quickly got a Screech Owl to respond to tape, followed by a Great Horned.  And there were a number of pre-dawn call notes for Swainson’s Thrush so I was off to a good start.  But soon after I started my daytime birding the woods became very quiet, and I saw next to no birds moving.  I completed the entire 4-mile length of Saluda Road and only had one small pocket of migrants, unfortunately finishing my coverage of that road in record time.

I then turned onto Old US Highway 25 and started the climb uphill.  Soon thereafter I ran into a small wave of migrants moving through the woods, though nothing special.  Then just 50 yards farther up the road another little wave.  Things were starting to pick up.  On the next stop I spotted a couple birds in the understory across the road.  First I picked up a Cape May and then a Tennessee.  Then I got a quick glimpse of a bird with a black throat patch and mask.  Could it be a Golden-winged?  And then with a closer look I saw the characteristic golden wing patches.  I indeed had a Golden-winged Warbler!  Quite unexpected, especially on a day with so few migrants.  But as I said earlier, it has been a good fall for them in western NC. 

Golden-winged Warbler was #290 for my SC state list.  My short list of possible targets in the SC Upstate just got one shorter.

My statebird map for this species is inserted below – states where I’ve seen it in its regular range are in blue, cross-hatched states are those where I still need it in its normal range, and I’ve seen it in NH (in brown) as a rarity.  Although Golden-winged is possible as a migrant or breeder throughout much of the east, this has been a pretty elusive species for me, especially more recently given its decreasing numbers in a lot of areas.

Baird’s Sandpiper – Yet Another Rarity at Dobbins Farm, Anderson, SC, September 9, 2021

September 8, 2021 was my planned day to chase after 2 “grasspipers” seen at the Orangeburg, SC sod farms – American Golden-Plover and Buff-breasted Sandpiper.  But that morning as I was making my final preparations for the trip, I received an eBird SC Needs Alert that included yet another grasspiper - a Baird’s Sandpiper first seen on the 7th at Dobbins Farm in Anderson County.  Dobbins Farm is a great spot; I’ve seen quite a number of rarities there in my 2 years living in the area.  So not to be greedy, I wondered if I could try for both the Orangeburg birds and the Baird’s on that same day.  Unfortunately, a trip to Dobbins Farm would require a major deviation in my route to and from Orangeburg.  So the Baird’s would have to wait.  Hopefully I could try for that one on the 9th if it was still around.  Or maybe I’d find one at Orangeburg eliminating the need for the drive to Dobbins altogether.

The good news on the 8th was that I found both my Golden-Plover and Buff-breasted targets.  The bad news was that I didn’t find a Baird’s at Orangeburg.  So once I got home I quickly checked the reports from Dobbins and sure enough the Baird’s was spotted on a morning trip there on the 9th.  Though a birder there in the afternoon did not find it.  What to do?  Had it moved on, or should I still give it a try?  Ever the optimist, I decided to make a run for it on the 9th anyway and talked my birding buddy Bill Hooker into meeting me there as well. 

Bill and I arrived at 8:30 and quickly focused on the lower pond where the Baird’s had been seen.  There were a number of Pectorals, Leasts, and Semi Sands foraging along the muddy bank, but no Baird’s.  I scanned more of the shoreline, picking up Spotted, Solitary, Semi Plover, and Lesser Yellowlegs.  That’s a nice group of shorebirds for this limited habitat,, but still no target bird.  My optimism was waning.  And then I scanned the near shore once again and this time picked up a medium-sized peep which didn’t look like one of the Pectorals.  With a closer look it had that characteristic long-winged look, patterned upper chest, and scalloped pattern to the mantle – we had our Baird’s Sandpiper.  I took this phonescoped photo of the bird in the distance. 

And cropped the photo further to zoom in on the Baird’s.

Over the next hour we watched as the bird would sometimes forage in the open on the near shore, but then more often spend time at a portion of the bank that was hidden from view.  Undoubtedly that’s where the bird was when we first arrived.  I guess we were lucky to have spotted it when it was in the open.  And good thing we didn’t wait to chase after it as Bill and I were the last birders to see this latest Dobbins rarity. 

Speaking of rare birds at Dobbins, during our visit we also had a Black Tern make stops at both ponds, two early Green-winged Teal foraging with Blue-wings, and heard a Dickcissel fly overhead.  Not to mention views of the resident Barn Owl nearby.  What a great spot!

Baird’s Sandpiper is #289 for my SC state list.  My statebird map is inserted below – the blue states are those where I’ve seen Baird’s in its regular range; the tan states are the numerous east coast states where I’ve seen them as a rarity.  I still need it in 3 states where it’s regular (the cross-hatched states).