Rachel Cass, Nathan Farnau, Dan Vickers and I braved the pre-dawn downpour to slog up to the only part of the state other than the SE quarter that looked like it might not be drenched all day. It started off misty, damp, and chilly up in the Cohutta Wilderness but ended with warm sunshine in the pastures of Bartow County. In between we had a good time and some neat birds, the best of which were a male and female COMMON GOLDENEYE that Nathan spotted among a huge raft of ducks on Carter's Lake Re-regulation Lake in Murray County (see numbers below) and at least 45 HORNED GREBES at the same location, in all manner of plumages from winter to breeding.

We started the day with a cool flock of WILD TURKEYS including a proud male displaying with 7-8 females and a "jake" male. Next, we explored an interesting area in the Cohuttas which Joshua Spence and Max Medley have suggested to me many times to survey for northerly species breeding. Indeed, the area known as Jones Mill and FS 126 along the Jacks River is awesome, with many areas of huge, mature white pines and hemlocks (until the wooly adelgid kills the latter species). In the first flock we found three target birds: RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, BROWN CREEPER, and GOLDEN- CROWNED KINGLET. Of course, being only mid-March all of these birds could still just be wintering... or a few may nest... either way, it is another spot to monitor through spring and early summer to find out! We had additional sightings of RBNU and BRCR in the area, including a male and female RBNU which may have been a pair.

Here are the birds were encountered today:

Canada Goose American Wigeon 1m, Carter's Re-reg Lake (CL) Mallard Ring-necked Duck 40+, CL Scaup Sp. 430, CL (good inland count) Bufflehead 12, CL COMMON GOLDENEYE 1m, 1f, CL Ruddy Duck 6, CL Wild Turkey, several sightings throughout day Common Loon 4, CL (all of which were in stunning breeding plumage) Pied-billed Grebe 3, CL HORNED GREBE 45+, CL (good count) Double-crested Cormorant 2, CL Great Blue Heron Black Vulture (only 1!) Turkey Vulture Bald Eagle 1, CL (head barely visible sticking up out of nest) Red-shouldered Hawk, a few Red-tailed Hawk 1, CL American Kestrel 1, Bartow County Loop (BC) American Coot, CL (plenty of eagle food!) Killdeer Least Sandpiper 4, BC Wilson's Snipe 1, CL; 8, BC Bonaparte's Gull 11, CL Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Belted Kingfisher Red-headed Woodpecker 1, CL Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker 1, Cohutta Wilderness (CW) Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Eastern Phoebe Blue Jay American Crow Fish Crow Horned Lark 1, BC ("singing") Tree Swallow 8, CL Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH 4, CW White-breasted Nuthatch Brown-headed Nuthatch BROWN CREEPER 3, CW (no singing, though) Carolina Wren Winter Wren 1, CW Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird American Robin Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling Cedar Waxwing Yellow-rumped Warbler (only 1!) Pine Warbler, several singing Palm Warbler 2, BC Eastern Towhee Field Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Eastern Meadowlark Common Grackle

Visit the Flickr page of Rachel Cass for some cool photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dotbleu1/

Visit these links for information about birding two of these areas: http://www.wingsoverga.com/BartowCountyBirdingSites.html#BartowCountyLoop http://www.wingsoverga.com/MurrayCountyBirdingSites.html#CartersLake

Ken Blankenship Marietta, GA (Cobb County) http://www.wingsoverga.com

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