Tipton Haynes Historical Site, April 26

There were only three of us. But the morning was bright and clear and the fields at Tipton Haynes were dew-soaked. Just right for birding.

Tipton Haynes Historical Site sits just on the southern edge of Johnson City on south Roan Street. It is not large, maybe 15 acres. There are historical buildings and a cave on the property. It is a nice place to visit and very important in the earliest history of Tennessee. In this part of the world, there are three major places to visit for local history. Jonesborough, the county seat and oldest town in Tennessee; Sycamore Shoals State Park in Elizabethton; Tipton Haynes Historical Site. From here all history in Tennessee and for a considerable portion of lower Kentucky and northern Mississippi and Alabama starts.

We didn’t seem much but we liked what we saw.  Notably: song sparrow, titmouse, goldfinch, chimney swifts, brown thrasher, barn swallow, towhee, redwing blackbird, phoebe, catbird.