Hi Everyone,

Fair warning - this is NOT a Northwest-related post, but I thought some of you might be interested in hearing about the eastern species seen on a just-completed trip.

My wife had a retreat in eastern TN and I tagged along and did some (not nearly enough) birding along with other activities and visiting family in PA. Birding locations included Radnor Lake south of Nashville - this location is one of the premier migration spots in TN, and is very close to Nashville with good trails around an 80 acre lake. Also, the retreat itself was at Fall Creek Falls State Park, southeast of Knoxville and another great location for birding. We also drove from TN to PA through western North Carolina, Virginia, and short distances through Maryland and West Virginia - birding at rest stops along the way.

Only a small percentage of the total time was spent birding, so our species count wasn't huge, but I picked up quite a few lifers and had a great time in the process. This morning (Sunday) we ran into one of the top birders in TN at Radnor Lake and tagged along with him. This guy knew every warbler (and other species) song, flight call and chip notes cold and certainly helped us add to our list.

To give you an idea of the quality of birding to be had in this area during migration, three people did a spring bird count on May 3rd in the area of Fall Creek Falls State Park patterned after the Audubon Christmas Bird Count. They tallied 140 species...! I was to have accompanied them, but there were severe thunderstorms and wind in the morning that day and so I called in and passed. Even with those initial weather conditions, it's obvious they did very well. Another post to the Tennessee version of the Tweeters list was from two people who birded Radnor Lake hard for a full day and had THIRTY warbler species in one day. Yow!

Following is a list of the eastern specialties we saw on the trip in more or less taxonomic order. I have not included many other species that are common to both sides of the country. This list includes some species found in our area that are much more plentiful back there.

COMMON LOON - Didn't think these would be this far south, but apparently it is relatively common for first year males to hang around all year on some of the large TVA impound lakes
BROAD-WINGED HAWK - 3 seen during the course of the week, including one nesting pair
TURKEY VULTURE - extremely common, multiple kettles seen daily
BLACK VULTURE - at least 3 seen
MOURNING DOVE - like flies, everywhere - rare to be out of earshot of them any time of the day
[Missed on Cuckoos. Yellow-billed's are normally common this time of year, but for some reason they are very scarce this year, causing quite a stir on their list. Black-billed are much less common where we were.]
[Missed on Red-bellied Woodpecker, which is quite common in TN. No Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers either; they migrate through earlier in the year and are gone by the time we arrived.]
OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER - No biggie out here, but one seen this morning at Radnor Lake caused quite a stir among the local birders; a relatively rare bird there.
EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE
LEAST FLYCATCHER - Relatively common in migration there.
ACADIAN FLYCATCHER
GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER
PHILADELPHIA VIREO
WHITE-EYED VIREO - including a nest being incubated
RED-EYED VIREO - yes, we have these out here, but they are everywhere back there; you basically couldn't be in the woods without hearing multiple birds of this species singing away
BLUE JAY
TUFTED TITMOUSE
WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH
CAROLINA WREN
HOUSE WREN
EASTERN BLUEBIRD
WOOD THRUSH
GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD - the state bird of Tennessee
BROWN THRASHER
GRAY CATBIRD

And the warblers seen, including those we have in the Northwest:
YELLOW WARBLER
CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER
MAGNOLIA WARBLER
BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER
BLACKPOLL WARBLER
BAY-BREASTED WARBLER
TENNESSEE WARBLER
NASHVILLE WARBLER
NORTHERN PARULA
BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER
AMERICAN REDSTART - and 'Yellowstart', the informal term for females and first year males
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER - including an active nest in a nest box near the Radnor Lake visitor center
WORM-EATING WARBLER
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT
MOURNING WARBLER
KENTUCKY WARBLER
LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH
WILSON'S WARBLER

SCARLET TANAGER
SUMMER TANAGER
NORTHERN CARDINAL
ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK
INDIGO BUNTING
CHIPPING SPARROW - very common; heard and saw
BALTIMORE ORIOLE
ORCHARD ORIOLE
BOBOLINK - multiple males in full breeding
COMMON GRACKLE

I did get some images and will post them later.

This trip certainly was worthwhile and has us thinking about going back again next year.


John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net
www.tubbsphoto.com





NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD
NORTHERN CARDINAL
CAROLINA WREN
TUFTED TITMOUSE
BROAD-WINGED HAWK
RED-EYED VIREO - yes, we have these out here, but they are extremely common back east
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER - including a pair nesting in a nest box near a visitor's center; this species plus Lucy's Warbler are the only two cavity-nesting warbler species
NASHVILLE WARBLER
GRAY CATBIRD
BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER
ORCHARD ORIOLE
COMMON GRACKLE
TURKEY VULTURE - extremely common
BLACK VULTURE
RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD
EASTERN BLUEBIRD
GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER
CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER
WOOD THRUSH
BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER
BROWN THRASHER
ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK
CHIPPING SPARROW - very common
NORTHERN PARULA
BLUE JAY
INDIGO BUNTING
SCARLET TANAGER
SUMMER TANAGER
BOBOLINK - multiple males in full breeding plumage
EASTERN WOOD PEWEE
BALTIMORE ORIOLE
CHIMNEY SWIFT
LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH
BLACKPOLL WARBLER
MAGNOLIA WARBLER
LEAST FLYCATCHER
WHITE-EYED VIREO - also found a nest being incubated
KENTUCKY WARBLER
BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER
PHILADELPHIA VIREO
AMERICAN REDSTART - and "Yellowstarts", the term used for females and first year males
GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH
ACADIAN FLYCATCHER
WORM-EATING WARBLER