Discover Birds Hosts Pack 73 Webelos Den at Cove Lake State Park

Members of the Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society and Discover Birds volunteers enjoyed the company of ten members of the Webelos Den Pack 73 in Norris, Tennessee, and leaders and parents, on our birding field trip to Cove Lake State Park in Caryville, Tennessee, November 9th.  

Above, Tom Howe, our field trip leader and Discover Birds volunteer, passes out binoculars to those who don't have them and gives a quick lesson to the pack members about how to find birds with their binoculars. "Keep your eyes on the bird and raise your binoculars up to your eyes," he suggests.  This helps prevent losing the bird because you've looked away.

Everybody got a chance to use this information right away to view the flock of Cedar Waxwings perched in the tops of the tree limbs in the parking lot.

A Cedar Waxwing is a brown sleek bird with a black mask on its face, a wash of yellow on its belly and bright yellow tail tips. They have waxy red tips on their secondary wing feathers, the blunt feathers on the wing that are closer to the body.

Tom points out the Cedar Waxwings and everybody gets practise getting a bird into view with their binoculars. Through binoculars the bird is magnified as though it is closer and you can see more details than if you were only looking with your eyes. 

Above and below, you can see the yellowish belly and the yellow tail tips of the Cedar Waxwing. You can also see those red wing tips on the image below (taken in my back yard several years ago). This Cedar Waxwing was eating holly berries. Cedar Waxwings love berries!

More Cedar Waxwings flew in and gathered on the cedar tree next to the parking lot to feed on the blue cedar berries.

From the parking lot we walked across a mowed lawn to an area where grasses grew high and were mixed with shrubs, like black berries.  This is a favorite habitat or place to feed and hide for small birds that eat seeds, like sparrows and finches.

Below, Tom (center) talks about the kinds of birds you would expect to see in this area and their behavior. Sparrows are small brownish birds and are sometimes hard to find because they are well camoflaged and like to hide down in the grass. Their favorite food is seeds that are produced by grasses and flowers.    

We have to be quiet and still to watch for birds to move. Pretty soon we see some but they are very quick. Tom walks around the other side of the grassy area to flush the birds, hoping they will move closer to where we can see them. The birds moved, but instead of coming our way, they just dropped down and hid in the grass just below Tom where he couldn't see them!

A Field Sparrow perched high enough for us to get a quick look.  This is a small brownish bird with a pale grayish breast and pink bill that lives in Tennessee year around.

You can see the Field Sparrow's pink bill and white eye ring in the photo above.  All those dry flower heads are full of tiny seeds that sparrows like to eat.

Tom and a pack member look for birds in the field, especially an American Woodcock that we flushed when we approached. Woodcocks are similiar to shorebirds except that they live in wet forests and wet grassy areas and probe the mud with their bills.

American Woodcock        Photo credit:  Mike Nelson                   

The picture of the woodcock above was taken in the spring.  All those spots and streaks of brown and gray on his back and head camoflage him, making him blend right into the forest floor or this brown, wet grassy area where we found him at Cove Lake.  

We came across another shrubby, grassy area and watched for sparrows and finches.   Jerry Ledbetter tries to get his scope on one of the birds, above.  There was lots of movement in the grasses.  The birds we saw and heard the most here were Song Sparrows that were jumping around and chasing each other.  They are brownish with a streaked breast.  Click the Song Sparrow link and listen to their song. We can sometimes hear these birds singing in our backyards.

A Song Sparrow, above.

KTOS member Jerry Ledbetter, above, watches for a bird to get in his birding telescope. When he gets it in focus, everybody has to take a quick look before the bird moves.  Some birds will sit still longer than others.

Webelos compare bird field guides and the birds they have seen, above and below.

What a fun morning!  Pack 73 received Discover Birds Activity Books donated by KTOS for all the members of the pack.

Pack 73, Webelos Den, Norris, Tennessee.  A great group of birders!  Back row, left to right:  Eric Williams, assistant pack leader; Tom Howe, KTOS field trip leader and Discover Birds volunteer; and Frits Haverkamp, Pack 73 leader.

Links and resources:

Discover Birds
KTOS (Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society)
KTOS on Facebook
Tennessee Ornithological Society
Cove Lake State Park
Cedar Waxwings
Field Sparrow
American Woodcock