SITE DESCRIPTION

SITE DESCRIPTION:
"The Soddy Mountain hawk lookout is located in southeast Tennessee on the eastern face of Walden's Ridge (the Cumberland Escarpment) in Hamilton County, a short distance north of the town of Soddy-Daisy, TN. It lies at the eastern terminus of Jones Gap Road atop a bluff overloooking Hwy. 111 and the beautiful Tennessee River Valley to the east. The hawk lookout location is state-owned land, and there are currently no restroom or eating facilities nearby. Hawk watchers are advised to bring their own folding lawn chair, sunscreen, a hat, and drinking water, as well as binoculars and a field guide. Caution should be used at all times, especially if children are present, as there is no fence to prevent a fall off the nearby 75 foot bluff. The hawk lookout proper is level ground." *

No Shelter is available, and parking is on a level below the lookout grounds. The climb to the watch site is up a steep bank about 8' high. Other helpful tools might include an umbrella or spotting scope, although on a good day, you might not find time to use either.*

Courtesy of William G. (Bill) Haley, compiler and author of the brochure, Soddy Mountain Hawk Lookout, produced for TOS.

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk
Falconer Mr. Johnson's Red-tail

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Just a Cloud Here and There

Lately, I have thought, when I am birding off the deck, I sure could use just a Cloud here and there. As it turns out, I have yet to get one of my Broad-wings from the deck in anything but blue sky. But they are sooooooo hard to see. Yesterday they were what we call, blinking in and out of the blue. It is hard to know if you are counting the same bird circling in a funnel of air, or if you have several birds in a close kettle. But yesterday, was a day, that I counted 9 birds in about 10 minutes, all the time had to check the sky. I really feel for the ones who are able to be on the watch and scan the vast area at the watch all day for hours, when there are no breaks from this scenario.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)