Birding at Cherokee Bluff

Our local bird club had a field trip today at a place that is new for me, a bluff along the Tennessee River. The property is being developed as a park by the Legacy Parks Foundation. I'm glad it will be preserved, because it has some lovely old trees and is reasonably birdy. If you follow the old gravel road for about 3/4 mile, it takes you to an amazing overlook of Knoxville, right on the edge of the bluff. We had overhead views of osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, lots of Great Blue Herons, Double-Crested Cormorants, and a Black-crowned Night Heron.

I left the trip early so that I wouldn't get too tired, and on the walk back I found my favorite bird of the day: a singing Wood Thrush. I love their sound, and it's always a triumph for me when I can actually locate the bird. They usually sound like they're higher up in the trees than they are, perhaps because they toss their head back when they sing and the sound echoes back from the upper leaves.  Wood Thrushes are an orangish-brown on the back, their belly is pale white, and their breast is speckled with dark brown dots. Their song sounds like a mystical flute playing "ee-o-laaaay!"