On Sunday, June 23, a Knoxville Chapter Tennessee Ornithological Society trip attended by Joann Benard, Tony King and I visited parts of the Sevier County side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We birded the Sugarlands Visitor Center, a short stretch of the Alum Cave Bluff Trail, Newfound Gap, Indian Gap and Clingmans Dome. Plenty of juvenile birds were found, and some of the species I expected to still be singing were not. I often bird these areas later in June and early in July and still find birds singing, especially at the higher elevations, but yesterday most of what we heard were call notes, often coming from begging youngsters. Blue-headed Vireos, Northern Parulas, Yellow-throated & Chestnut-sided Warblers were still singing regularly. We had a few songs from Veery and Black-throated Blue Warblers, with almost no sound of Black-throated Green Warblers. Perhaps many of these birds were able to nest earlier this year. I may have to brave the traffic (on the return trip) one more time this summer to see how things are there in July. One surprise: No Hooded Warblers!! Here's what we found: Sugarlands Visitor Center Downy & Pileated Woodpeckers E Phoebe Acadian Flycatcher (possibly with young) Am Crow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Carolina Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Yellow-throated & Red-eyed Vireos N Parula at least 2 Yellow-throated Warbler at least 2 Worm-eating Warbler Ovenbirds - at least three young birds Louisiana Waterthrush 2 Song Sparrow Am Goldfinch Alum Cave Bluff Trail - we walked about a quarter mile up the trail chickadee species (never sure which species is here, hybrids possible) Carolina and Winter Wrens Golden-crowned Kinglets Veery Blue-headed Vireo at least 6, no obvious young birds N Parula Black-throated Blue Warblers - several seen, including at least one young Black-throated Green 2 Canada Warbler 1 adult with a juvenile, never sang. Newfound Gap (all birds listed are for North Carolina, except crossbill in both states) There was cloud cover at and above this elevation, with occassional misty rain. Ruffed Grouse 2 Hairy Woodpecker Am Crow Black-capped Chickadee 5+ Red-breasted Nuthatch 2 Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglets Veery Am Robin Blue-headed Vireos N Parula 1 Chestnut-sided Warbler 2 Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 (Blackburnian heard what may have been one) E Towhee Dark-eyed Junco at least 20 immature and 10 adults Red Crossbill 1 Indian Gap - we walked about a tenth of a mile up the Appalachian Trail, toward Newfound Gap Black-capped Chickadee 5 Red-breasted Nuthatch 2 Brown Creeper 1 Winter Wren 2 Golden-crwoned Kinglets Veery Blue-headed Vireos Chestnut-sided Warbler 2 Blackburnian Warblers 2 Dark-eyed Juncos Red Crossbills at least two in the fog Clingmans Dome parking area (I believe this is all North Carolina) may have heard some Cedar Waxwings...expected there Golden-crowned Kinglets Am Robins Blue-headed Vireos Chestnut-sided Warbler 1 Dark-eyed Juncos David Trently Knoxville, TN dtrently@xxxxxxx =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================