In late December I noticed that an Asian Hooded Crane was being seen in Tennessee. This bird has never been seen in North America, so I knew I just had to get him.
When our planned cruise through the Panama Canal fell through, we decided to make the trek south and east. We took off on January 18 and arrived nearly 600 miles later at the Hiwasse Refuge 30 minutes before sunset. There were thousands of Sandhill Cranes present, but no Hooded. During the winter the only place where one can visit this refuge is a platform that overlooks a lake edge and distant corn and grass fields.
The following morning it was 25 degrees when we arrived at the platform at about 8 AM. There were already nine other intrepid birders present, shivering in the chill. At 8:55 the Hooded flew across a grassy field, a long way out. It was in sight for only about twelve seconds and I did not make a single image. It was so cold that Chris spent most of the day keeping warm in the car and reading her book. I stayed out almost the entire day, but no one saw the crane again.
At noon we drove into a nearby town by the name of Dayton for lunch. The fast food restaurants are along a highway east of the town. Afterwards, Chris suggested that we go into the old town and check things out. Almost as soon as we got onto Main Street, here was the old Rhea Country Courthouse. There was a sign that announced that this was the location of the notorious Scopes Monkey Trial back in 1925 where Clarence Darrow faced off for seven days with William Jennings Bryan. I had read about this trial decades before, but never knew exactly where it took place. An amazing coincidence to find it when we weren’t looking for it!
We decided to spend an additional night in the motel in Cleveland, as I wanted another shot at photographing the crane. But it was not to be. He never showed again before we gave up at 10:30 and drove off. Before leaving, I did make a number of images of Eastern Bluebirds that had been flitting around during both days, an Eastern Phoebe, and, of course, the Sandhill Cranes, which are, if not rare, photogenic.
Upon departure, we headed north and east to Townsend and the entrance to Cades Cove in Great Smokey Mountain National Park. I had visited this popular location twice before, but never in January and did not know what to expect. The entrance road follows Laurel Creek up a very scenic canyon, which must be spectacular during the spring when the extensive groves of rhododendrun are blooming.
We learned that the black bears were all in hibernation and even though it was quite warm, none ventured out where we could see them. Maybe they didn’t even venture out! Almost as soon as we got onto the loop road that goes around the fields and small copses of Cades Cove, we noticed a half dozen or so White-tailed deer munching on grass in the meadow. Chris noticed that the farthest one was a buck, and a nice one at that.
I drove a bit further until I was opposite the buck and fixed Big Bertha onto the tripod before heading out into the field. Unfortunately, the buck had had enough to eat for the time and was headed for bed! On the far side of a barbed wire fence, he encountered two other large bucks. All three were as big or bigger than any bucks I have seen in Cades Cove. Two of the three lay down before I could make a single image, while the other wandered off into the brush. I did make some decent images of the bucks lying down, but they would have been more attractive standing!
After that encounter we continued on the loop road and saw a large flock of wild turkeys out in a field. Many were large toms with big beards, but they were not displaying and a long ways away, so I did not attempt any photography. While we enjoyed the scenary, we did not see any more wildlife, so retraced our drive down Laurel Creek Canyon and out of the park. We drove through the godforsaken Pigeon Forge before getting up to I 40. Pigeon Forge must be the tackiest place in North America. It makes Vegas look sophisticated!
We stayed overnight near Bristol and drove home on the 21st through some terrible rain. Overall, we covered 1358 miles.