February 11, 2016, in Sullivan County, Tenn.

Gil Derouen, Jim D. Anderson, Roy Knispel, and myself, our little group of old guys had some good finds on Thursday. Most notably was a Loggerhead Shrike off Pemberton Road in Sullivan County. This was the first shrike in a long time for any us. For me, the last shrike was maybe better than a year ago.

We’d thought the Pemberton Road shrike might have left the territory but we took a chance down a side road and there he was. Jim D. saw him first. The shrike’s back was to us and that stymied us for a moment, and then, for once, the bird cooperated and gave him and us a great profile look. It ended up being a better day with about 1,500 (or more, they kept coming in!) ring-billed gulls in two locations, our first common grackle, a winter wren at the Weir dam, and all three mergansers. It took some effort to even attempt to check all the ring-billed gulls for other gull species.

We have lucky enough to pick up both kinglets were we finally got the Winter Wren at the Weir Dam.

The final tally was 56 species which is pretty good. We visited the usual hotspots: David Dock, Paddle Creek Pond, Osceola Island (the Weir Dam), Beaver Dam Road, Pemberton Road, Musick’s Campground, and Middlebrook Pond. The weather in east Tennessee in mid-February is daily anyone’s guess. But we have a string of warm wet days coming up. The sun is up noticeably longer. Grass is greening up. Iris and daffodils are just waiting for that right moment.