Thursday Part 2: September 22nd:Clingmans Dome, Great Smokey Mountains NP

Today is Saturday, Sept 24th.  We just got cell coverage so thought we would stop and publish a post before we travel out of cell coverage again.

Thursday:  After a 1/2 mile hike up 1000 feet from the parking lot,  we got to the tower at the highest point in the park at 6,643 feet.

The most prevalent bird was the Chimney Swift

They are among the most aerial of birds, flying almost constantly except when roosting overnight and nesting.  When they do come to rest, they never sit on perches like most birds.  Their long claws are well suited for clinging to walls of chimneys and other vertical surfaces like caves and cliff faces.

Swifts even bathe in flight; they glide down to the water, smack the surface with their bodies, and then bounce up and shake the water from their plumage as they fly away.

They use their glue-like saliva from a gland under their tongue to cement its nest to the chimney wall or rock face.  Though they will roost together in large numbers for warmth, they do not nest colonially and you'll find only one breeding pair nesting in any one chimney.

They are long-distance migrants traveling to South America each winter flying across the Gulf of Mexico or skirting along the Texas coast.  They typically use one of three distinct flyways: the Atlantic Coast, the east side of the Appalachians, and the Mississippi River.

Many people were enjoying looking at the Mountain Ash (and some folks were actually eating the berries), but this male Rose-breasted Grosbeak was chowing down on the berries.

These birds build such flimsy nests that eggs are often visible from below through the nest's bottom.

The male Rose-breasted Grosbeak takes a turn incubating the eggs for several hours during the day, while the female incubates the rest of the day and all night long.

Both sexes sing quietly to each other when they exchange places 

And the male sometimes even sings his normal song at full volume from inside the nest.

Their song is one of the most beautiful and intricate songs in the avian world.

These birds are long-distance migrants flying from North American breeding grounds to Central and South America.

Most of them fly across the Gulf of Mexico in a single night, although some migrate over land around the Gulf.  Those that winter in Panama and northern South America tend to be from eastern parts of the breeding range, while those wintering in Mexico and Central America tend to be from western parts.