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. 

 

Seven Statebirds in Coastal Mississippi – May 2017

A short business trip to the MS and AL Gulf Coast came up in mid-May, and of course I wondered if I might have much statebirding potential.  My free time would be limited as it almost always is on these business trips, so I would have to focus on just a few key targets.  First I needed to do some research.  Although my MS and AL statelists were already pretty good (229 in MS and 238 in AL), in the back of my mind I thought that I needed several pretty easy birds in MS.  So I set up an eBird Needs Alert for MS and sure enough 10 possible targets popped near the coast – several were regular breeders.  Only a couple came up on my AL Needs Alert, and those didn’t look very reliable.  So it seemed that with limited time I should target the possible statebirds at or near the Gulf Coast in MS. 

Now I needed to develop an itinerary for the trip.  I would arrive on the coast mid/late afternoon, and would be free through that evening, so that would only give me a few hours for birding.  But the Needs Alert included possible targets in three different areas.  First there were 4 targets on the coast – Reddish Egret, American Oystercatcher, Sandwich Tern, and Seaside Sparrow.  Then 3 generally a bit inland – Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Anhinga, and Common Ground-Dove.  And then 3 even farther inland – Chuck-will’s-Widow, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, and Bachman’s Sparrow – luckily all in the same general location at DeSoto National Forest.  There were reasonably reliable spots for all of these targets except the Egret and Ground-Dove, so in theory I could come up with an itinerary with 8 realistic targets.  I could start with several stops on the coast, work my way inland, and finish the evening at DeSoto NF.  That would be a lot of stops with limited time so the birds would have to cooperate quickly if I was going to be successful.  But of course I was optimistic.

My first stop was to try for Sandwich Tern.  Although this is a regular nester on the coast, there didn’t seem to be any specific locations where it was regular.  Instead there were several spots where it was being reported at least occasionally, with perhaps the best location being the lighthouse at Biloxi, so I made that my first stop.  When I got out of the car at the lighthouse parking lot I quickly spotted a small flock of birds on the beach but they were all just Laughing Gulls.  Then I scanned across the open water with my binoculars and found a number of Royal and Forster’s Terns, most coming and going from a spit of land a bit to the east.  With some nice activity I went back to the car to get my scope and then started to scan in earnest.  Soon I spotted a bird flying over the water which was a little larger than the Forster’s that was apparently an adult in non-breeding plumage – it had a dark patch near the eyes and around the back of the head, and darker wing tips.  Eventually I could confirm the ID as a Sandwich Tern (statebird #1).  Finding this bird in MS fills in the last gap in my statebird map (below) – I’ve now seen Sandwich Tern from TX all the way up to MD on the Atlantic coast, not to mention seeing it as a rarity in MA.

My next target was American Oystercatcher, which is a nester on the MS coast, but unfortunately on offshore islands that are inaccessible.  The best I could hope for was to find some birds wandering around on the coast, and the best spot appeared to be Front Beach at Ocean Shores.  Unfortunately despite several quick stops along the beach I found no shorebirds at all.  Although I dipped on this target, the silver lining was it didn’t take much time to look for it. 

Then I was off to try for Seaside Sparrow – a common nester in saltmarsh habitat all along the coast.  The challenge was to find appropriate habitat that was accessible.  I targeted Graveline Beach about 30 minutes east of Ocean Shores where there had been several recent reports.  As I approached the beach I could see lots of great Spartina marsh which would be ideal for Seaside Sparrows, and I stopped at the first area where the marsh came right up to the road.  It was pretty windy so the chances of hearing these birds was pretty slim.  I started to scan the marsh and in no time I saw two cooperative Seaside Sparrows flying low over the grasses (#2).  I now only need this species in GA as the last state in its coastal range.

My next target was Anhinga – another regular breeder in southern MS.  And indeed there had been reports of this species in a number of different locations, but the only spot where they were seen with any frequency was the New Pascagoula River Audubon sanctuary.  Up to 4 birds had been reported there on apparently regular walks through the sanctuary, so this would be my key spot to give them a try.  Just as I arrived at the park entrance I noticed a sign that said the park closed at 5 – it was now 4:45.  Yikes – this would have to be a quick stop.  I headed to the wetlands behind the building and did a quick scan of the adjacent trees hoping to find a perched bird but with no luck.  Then after a few more steps on the boardwalk I got a view of the marsh but still no target.  Then I turned the bend and there in front of me sitting right on the boardwalk was an Anhinga (#3).  A couple minutes later I was back in my car and left the park with 5 minutes to spare – that was an efficient stop!  MS was my last state for Anhinga in its regular breeding area, though I can still hope to find this species most anywhere else in the east as a vagrant.

Next I was off to try for Black-bellied Whistling-Duck which is really expanding throughout the region.  A great example of that expansion - a flock of up to 95 birds had been reported recently in the Inner Harbor of Pascagoula.  When I arrived at this spot I found what appeared to be perfect Whistling-Duck habitat – numerous houses with manicured lawns surrounding the harbor.  Although access was pretty limited I was able to search most of the lawns but couldn’t find any ducks.  Then I drove to another portion of the harbor, and with this different viewing angle, I quickly picked up a flock of 8 Whistling-Ducks sitting on a distant lawn (#4).  MS was my 7th state for this species and now the 4th across the Gulf Coast.

Next I was off to DeSoto National Forest to a whole different set of habitats in the piney woods.  Apparently I had never birded this habitat in MS since eBird reports indicated that my 3 targets (Red-cockaded, Bachman’s Sparrow, and Chuck) were quite common here.  And all in the immediate area of the Bethel Mountain Bike Trail.  In fact, all 3 were reported on some individual checklists.  After a quick 45 minute drive northwest of Pascagoula, I arrived at the beginning of a dirt road which was the start of the bike trail.  I had not walked more than 100 yards up the road when I heard the first call notes of a Red-cockaded Woodpecker (#5).  And when I was trying to track it down I heard a singing Bachman’s Sparrow (#6).  That was easy! 

I spent quite a bit of time with the Woodpeckers, and counted at least 4 adults in this colony, including this foraging bird.

And I eventually tracked down an active nest with young bird(s) calling from inside.  Note that this is a man-made nest hole.

MS was my 7th state for this endangered species.

During this time I kept my ears open for Bachman’s Sparrow and heard at least 5 singing birds.  Great to hear so many individuals of this declining species in one spot.  And good to see that all the efforts to manage the habitat at this location have been successful for both of these species.

Since I was able to get both of these birds so quickly I now had some spare time on my hands while waiting for it to be late enough to listen for the Chucks as my last target.  I walked up and down the trail a bit and found the area to be quite birdy.  For warblers there were a number of Pines along with a couple Prairies and a Chat.  And singing Painted Buntings and Orchard Orioles were very nice – I don’t hear either of these species singing often.  Then as it approached sunset I starting hearing a number of Nighthawks, which continued calling and displaying the rest of the time I was there.  Finally, at 18 minutes after sunset, I heard the first song of a Chuck-will’s-widow (#7).  And soon thereafter at least 2 others joined in.  My statebird map for this species is pretty odd- although I’ve heard this species in several northern states as a rarity, I still need it in a few southeastern states where it is common in appropriate habitat.

That concluded a most successful birding trip finding 7 of my 8 realistic targets.  In fact, given my limited time, I wasn’t even sure that I’d have time to try for all 8 of the targets.  My MS statelist now stands at 236 – 29 over the old ABA threshold.