One of the sections of this year that I’ve been most looking forward to has been following spring migration up the east coast. Spring has always been my favorite time of year when it comes to birding, with warbler migration at Magee Marsh and Tawas Point having been instrumental in me finally getting into birding. The idea of following migration through the Carolinas into Virginia, up through Maryland and New Jersey, and eventually up to Maine has been something I have been thrilled about, and now the time is nearly upon me; Spring has Sprung.
Week Fifteen finally say a cessation in the constant showers that had defined the previous week, but throughout the first few days of the week I reaped the benefits beginning with my Monday morning visit to the Swallow Spring Pond, which brought me my Kentucky-first Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Pectoral Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Wilson’s Snipe, Horned Lark, and Northern Harrier. Then, at the Cox Mill Rd. transient lake, Eastern Meadowlark, Savannah Sparrow, and American Golden-Plover joined my state list. As I drove away from the transient lake along Cox Mill Rd I stopped along a particularly birdy row of brush and trees, a spot which was filled with Brown Thrasher, Hermit Thrush, Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Carolina Chickadee, and Carolina Wren.
The rest of Monday morning was spent just driving my way through rural roads and flooded fields – some random unnamed spots, and others hotspots like Hopson Lake and Otter Pond. In the afternoon I stopped at Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park for lunch and some hiking, picking up decent passerine variety including Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Dark-eyed Junco, White-eyed Vireo, Louisiana Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Pine Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
The next few stops for the day were mostly inconsequential and without much variety, and finally I ended the day at Lake Malone State Park, where I had a variety of birds but nothing new for the state As I made my way to Bowling Green to head to Cracker Barrel for the night, though, I spotted a Black-crowned Night-Heron along the side of the road perched on the edge of a pond; a fantastic pick up!
Kentucky had been a state I was expecting to be relatively challenging to reach 100 in, and one of the two main reasons for that expectation had been that ducks would be relatively hard to come by. So far, that hadn’t even remotely been the case, thanks largely to the mass flooding across the western half of the state. After Monday the rest of my time in the state was more of what I expected in terms of ducks, but began to defy the second basis of that expectations: that it would be too early for some of the spring migrants, warblers included. Tuesday would be a middle-ground between these to excellent windows of birding though. After starting the morning at McElroy Transient Lake and picking up American Pipit and Bank Swallow, the rest of my day was pretty much spent being unable to get to where I wanted to go due to flooded roads. Eventually I made my way to Mammoth Cave National Park, where I went for a hike on the Turnhole Bend Trail and then spent some time birding around the Visitor’s Center, picking up a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
Wednesday morning I woke to the sound of my 99th Kentucky bird, a Eurasian Collared-Dove, and then I hit the roads for another day of birding flooded fields. Much like on Monday some of them were random roads and other were eBird hotspots like the H Gentry Lake and the Iron Mt. Rd. Pond, but throughout all those stops I couldn’t manage to turn up a single new bird for Kentucky. Eventually I was reaching a point where I would need to stop for the day to finish up last week’s blog post in order to post it on time, but as I made my way towards the closest Dunkin Donuts I spotted an egret in a pond a couple hundred feet from the road. Upon looking at it in binoculars I immediately felt it was too small to be a Great Egret, and in the scope I noticed it was very stocky and it’s solid yellow bill left only one option: a Western Cattle-Egret – not a bad bird for #100! Having achieved the century mark I spent the next couple hours finishing up Week Fourteen’s post before it was time to head into Liberty to meet up with my only contact for the state of Kentucky, Asher Higgins.
I met Asher at the Central Kentucky Ag/Expo Center, where we were quickly greeted by my first-of-year Chimney Swift. The fields there were quite bountiful, yielding Solitary Sandpiper as a new Kentucky bird for me along with a large flock of Lesser Yellowlegs and Greater Yellowlegs. We then made our way to Lake Liberty, one of Asher’s regular patches, where we quickly heard a calling Barred Owl before spotting Brown Creeper, Purple Finch, Prairie Warbler, and Red-breasted Merganser. Asher then treated me to dinner as we made plans for our birding for the next couple days and we headed back to his house, where I would spend the night in his guest room.
We got up early Thursday morning to head towards the Red River Gorge Recreation Area. We started our day at Muir Valley, quickly picking up Ovenbird, my first-of-year Black-throated Green Warbler, and a Blue-headed Vireo as new-for-Kentucky birds along with Louisiana Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Northern Parula, and several Golden-crowned Kinglet. Throughout our next couple stops we would spot several more Louisiana Waterthrush, Black-throated Green Warbler, and Northern Parula, as well as a few Yellow-throated Warbler.
Eventually we made our way to the Minor E. Clark National Fish Hatchery, where there wasn’t much happening but we did add Belted Kingfisher to my state list. We made several stops around Cave Run Lake, scoping the lake and seeing some Ring-billed Gull, Bonaparte’s Gull, Double-crested Cormorant, and some more of the same warblers.
Finally we ended the day at Paintsville Late State Park, where along the Mountain Homeplace road and trails we heard a plethora of birds singing, spotted some Bufflehead, and finally heard the distinct croaking call of a Common Raven, a rare-but-expected bird in far-east Kentucky. From Paintsville we began working our way back west towards Asher’s house, but stopped to get a hotel room to continue our birding in the east Friday morning before heading all the way back to Asher’s place.
We began Friday morning with a nice, long walk through very mild rain – almost more of a mist than any kind of downpour – at the Lily Mountain Nature Preserve. Throughout our entire three hours there we encountered a steady stream of birds, ending our walk with 44 species. One of those species, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, brought us a unique experience neither of us had ever encountered before. One adult female bird, a typical red-capped variant female (the “normal” kind of adult female YBSA), was being relentlessly chased by a second female, an adult with no red whatsoever in the cap, a “black-crowned” variant. The black-crowned bird repeatedly pursued the red-capped bird, both birds vocalizing constantly.
Our next stop, the Camp Nelson National Monument, was a fantastic mix of grasslands and woodland. In the grasslands portion, along with tons of Eastern Meadowlark and an American Kestrel, we spotted Asher’s second-ever Kentucky Vesper Sparrow. We then began making our way back to Asher’s house, but as we were driving along the road to his house we spotted a raptor in a tree along the road, and upon stopping it and putting it in optics we recognized it as both of our first-of-year Broad-winged Hawk.
Saturday would be my last day birding with Asher in Kentucky, and despite only spending the first several hours of the day in Kentucky it was probably my best day of my time in the state. First, at the Wolf Creek Dam, we heard and then saw a first-of-year Eastern Kingbird, along with a couple Common Loon and a ton of Bonaparte’s Gull. We then made our way down to below the dam to the Kendall Recreation Area, and quickly began to rack up species. Soon we had tallied 30 species and made the goal to hit 40, and before we knew it we were creeping up on 50 with our eyes on hitting 60, which we rocketed past to 65 and decided to aim for 70 species. Among those first 65 were some pretty great birds, including Broad-winged Hawk, Yellow-throated Vireo, Winter Wren, Orange-crowned Warbler, Gray Catbird, Common Yellowthroat, and Hermit Thrush. 66 and 67 were Tree Swallow and House Finch, then Savannah Sparrow made 68. After about a twenty minute dearth of species we managed to track down a Prothonotary Warbler, and with a couple “low-hanging fruit” targets remaining like Eastern Phoebe and Northern Mockingbird we were sure that we could hit 70, but our 70th bird would prove to be a less-expected bird, a Wood Thrush hanging out low and in the open, just sitting in a snag underneath a bush. Asher and I then grabbed a late lunch before parting ways, and I made my way towards Tennessee to get started on birding The Volunteer State.
My birding in Tennessee rocketed to a fantastic start throughout the rest of the day Saturday, first with a handful of incidental birds seems as I was driving to my first stop, then at the Obey River Recreation Area I tallied nearly thirty new birds for the state, including several warbler species. Next, at the Standing Stone State Park, another dozen species would join that list, giving me a count of 51 to end my first half day in Tennessee.
Sunday wouldn’t amount to be a particularly spectacular day of birding, but my time at Rock Island State Park and Tims Ford State Park were still pretty great, both filled with birds aplenty, especially Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Northern Parula.
The next few days during the start of Week Sixteen, though, would see the dam begin to break as spring migration got going in full swing as I birded my way around the Nashville area, picking up a couple species I previously had very limited experience with, including my first time seeing a previously heard-only bird. But, however, is a story for next week. Spring has sprung, and I am sure the coming days will bring some of the best birding of my life.
Happy Birding!
eBird Trip Summary:
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Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday (I will try to have them out by 5pm, but situationally they might be a bit later) and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
