It was August 22nd and we were well into what I call “The Summer Doldrums of Birding” – a period where the breeding season is over, and migration isn’t yet underway. Unfortunately, that lasts nearly 2 months here in the mountains of western NC. Luckily, it’s good birding the remaining 10+ months of the year. I hadn’t had a new statebird, let alone even tried for one, since coming back from my Oregon, Idaho, and Washington trip in June.
Even though it was a slow time of the year I decided to
check my eBird Needs Alert for Tennessee on the off chance that there might be
something to chase after in the eastern part of the state. As is usually the case, most every listed species
was being seen in the central or western part of the state. But then I noticed some reports of
Swallow-tailed Kite from Sullivan County.
First of all, I didn’t even know I needed STKI for TN – thank goodness
for eBird Needs Alerts! Then I thought I
remembered that Sullivan County was near the northeast corner of TN. And sure enough a quick search on GoogleMaps
showed the site to be 1 hour 55 minutes from home - just within my self-imposed
2-hour driving limit for chases.
Now I had to determine if my target was reasonably reliable
to justify the chase. There were nearly daily
reports recently of up to 5 birds along Chinquapin Grove Road, with reports going
back to August 6th with up to 8 birds spotted.
That was all good news. But, there
were no reports from the 22nd. Since the
spot was not a hotspot I couldn’t tell if anyone looked for them unsuccessfully
that day. I tried to overlook the lack
of reports writing it off simply as most of the local birders who wanted to see
the Kites had already done so by then.
The out-of-range Kite flock was old news of sorts. At least that’s what I told myself. Based on the Kites’ history at the site I assumed
they were reliable enough to make a run to TN to give them a try. I was free the next morning - the chase was
on!
Kites aren’t typically up and about until mid to late
morning, so I figured there was no need to leave the house too early. I was out the door at about 6:45 which had me
rolling into the area where the Kites had been seen at 8:40. The site turned out to be an active cattle
ranch, with grazing pastures in all directions.
A few reports mentioned seeing them across the road from a red barn, which
was pretty obvious when I pulled up. So
I decided to park along the road right at the barn and set up my scope to look
roughly northeast over the fields opposite the barn.
I didn’t see any Kites when I first arrived, but I wasn’t
too worried since it was likely still too early for them. Though I kept scanning the skies just in
case. At about 9:30 I saw the first
Vultures soaring nearby. There were
several reports of the Kites soaring in Vulture kettles so I scanned the
Vultures closely, but to no avail.
Then at 9:40 I spotted a raptor flying nearby quite low – without
even a binocular view I knew it was my target Swallow-tailed Kite. Then 3 more followed it. All 4 birds landed at the top of a tall
sycamore tree about 300 ft away just across the road from the barn and
proceeded to preen for the next 15 minutes.
I was able to get these phonescoped shots of some of the perched birds.
Very striking birds! And certainly worth the chase to get this rarity for TN. Swallow-tailed Kite was number 256 for my TN list.
My statebird map for this species is inserted below. The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen Swallow-tails in their regular range. Blue cross-hatched AL is the last state in its regular range where I’ve yet to see this species. And now I’ve seen Swallow-tailed Kite in 2 states where it is a rarity (TN and NC shaded in brown).
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