Birds along the Maryville-Alcoa Tennessee Greenway Trails December 2022

Posted by Randy Puckett Randy Puckett as iNaturalist randy135

Birds along the Maryville-Alcoa Tennessee Greenway Trails December 2022

This Greenway/Greenbelt trail system is adjacent to Pistol Creek, which drains the numerous subdivisions and older homes from Western Maryville. A portion of the main trail is a block or two away from the downtown area of this small city of over 32,000 people.

The other incorporated city of this partnership for this Greenbelt is Alcoa that has a population of over 11,000. These two towns are often called the Twin Cities of Blount County and are included in the Greater Knoxville Metro area in Central East Tennessee with a population of almost 900,000.

The biodiversity of birds, plants, and small mammals that I have observed and photographed over the past 6 months along this Greenbelt park system is numerous and amazing to see in this small urban area.

I was out 15 days in December, 2022, identifying 43 species of birds and posted 324 bird observations to iNaturalist along the Greenway trails.

At the end of this Blog page below are links to maps of the Greenway trail system from the Blount County Parks and Rec.

Left click on each photo for a better view in a gallery format. You can also scroll through them with the directional arrows. To return to the main page hit escape or click the X in the upper right hand corner of the picture.

I have taken many photography exploration walks along the 15 plus miles of this linear (with connecting side trails) park within the city limits of Maryville and Alcoa here in East Tennessee during December, 2022.

A 2-1/2 hour three mile out and back photography walk from my condo to the Blount County Courthouse on December 9, 2022, revealed the many types of birds living here.

This Greenway trail section is within 1 or 2 blocks of the main section of downtown Maryville alongside Pistol Creek. These 8 photos of 7 species are some of the birds I documented for this urban Aves diversity. The last one is a takeoff from a tree.

I live on a hilltop condo with an elevated deck that overlooks the upstream end of the Greenbelt Lake and trail where Pistol Creek and Browns Creek merge.

I often take quick short photography walks just down the hill from my home along Browns Creek and I have captured so many birds along this short section of the Greenway. The habitat here provides cover, perching places, water, and I guess abundant food in seeds, fruits, berries, worms and insects.

A connecter trail of the Greenway system is located directly below my deck to Bike lanes along Lincoln and McArthur Roads traveling to the Alcoa duckpond near the Springbrook park.

This trail intersects the main portion of the main trail near the Duckpond, to either loop back to the Greenbelt Lake or one can go to the Alcoa extended main trail that ends near the Pellissippi Parkway US Interstate I-140.

On December 17, 2022 we took a photo exploration to the Alcoa trail section along Pistol Creek near the Pellissippi Parkway Interstate 140 that connects West Knoxville to Blount County.

This portion of the Greenway trail has smaller subdivisions of family homes and the Clayton Corporate Headquarters. Much of this end of the Greenway is surrounded by undeveloped fields, many of which are owned by Alcoa Aluminum Company of America.

The Greenbelt Lake is one of the showcases of the Maryville Tn Greenway trail. The main trail circles this small lake where the water is retained by a concrete dam with spillway over the top that is about 20 feet tall.

This lake is just downstream from where Browns Creek and Pistol Creek merge together. The lake backs up water in both these urban drainage streams.

A pedestrian and bicycle elevated bridge passes over the middle of the lake forming an easy access from the Blount County Public Library to the two blocks to Broadway Ave in the center of Downtown Maryville Tn.

A smaller wooden bridge just over the water surface crosses the upper end of the lake connecting the two paved loop trails near the upper end.

I often walk all around and across this lake and usually take my camera with me as the Birds, Turtles, Flowers, Butterflies, Dragonflies and Damselflies are abundant at different times of the year.

Mallards are always found here swimming in the water and up on the banks of this lake. I have been rewarded with catching them landing and flying over the water surface.

Mallards are believed to be one of the most photographed Bird species in North America and even the world. The photos below were all taken during December, 2022.

Link to a Closer to Nature.... Mallards post

Mallards Post

What I think is the one Greenbelt Lake favorite bird that everyone loves to see is the Great Blue Heron.

One day last summer I saw 4 different Great Blues in the lake area wading and watching to strike a fish in the shallow water. The following photos were also all taken during December, 2022.

I first was able to capture photos of a Belted Kingfisher on December 2, 2022 here at the Greenbelt Lake. This bird was wary and always stayed far away from me. I had to full zoom then crop in close later on my MacBook to get this picture.

I had heard and briefly seen this unique bird a couple of other times here at the lake and along Pistol and Browns Creeks close by.

On a late afternoon and into the evening of December 12, I was treated to an aerial show from one and then another Kingfisher joined in chasing and flying together all around the lake.

When I got back up the hill to my Condo in the dark I had taken almost 200 pictures of these two Belted Kingfishers that I had to preview and select which ones to keep. I had stayed until the sun was almost down and the last photos were too dark to use.

Here are some of the best and even a few were still a little blurry as they fly and turn so quickly.

This air show was one of my favorite bird highlights for the entire year of 2022.

Another water fowl at the lake this December was this American Coot. I have seen a pair often here. It is so cool to watch them go completely underwater and come back to the surface about 20 to 30 feet away.

The water fowl that soars in a majestic large flock that often fly into the lake in their V-formation making their well known calls are the Canada Geese. I saw this large flock on the grass beside where Browns Creek enters the Lake on December 27, 2022.

Some of these bird species pictured below have been observed elsewhere along the Greenway. The shoreline and banks of the Lake provide good habitats for these and many other bird species. This area has many species of different birds I observed December 2022 on several walks around the Lake.

Other birds I photographed in December 2022 along more sections of the Maryville TN Greenway trails are shown below.

Next are December 2022 Red-shouldered Hawks with some close ups and in flight on Maryville Greenway and around the Lake.

I believe we have had a pair of these beautiful birds living in Maryville since I first saw two of them together on September 7, 2022 by Browns Creek where it enters the Greenbelt Lake.

The last three photos are where I was far away across the Lake and I saw the Hawk swoop down and capture what looks like a mouse. I got the 2 pictures of it flying over the Greenway Trail with this mouse in its beak.

The last picture was after I moved slowly to get close to the tree where it had perched to eat its meal.

Link to another Red-shouldered Hawk Post in this Closer to Nature.... Blog:

Red-shouldered Hawks Downtown Maryville

Downstream of the Greenbelt lake dam the Maryville section of the Greenway main trail crosses into the Alcoa Tennessee city limits. The trail runs about 6 miles next to Pistol Creek most of the distance until the present end a short distance after it goes underneath Interstate I-140 or the Pellissippi Parkway which connects to West Knoxville and into Oak Ridge.

Below are some of the December birds I was able to photograph on the Alcoa section with several species not included in the Maryville posts of this bird biodiversity Closer to Nature.... Blog Page.

All of the above showcase many of my bird photographs that are sharp and in pretty good focus. While on a late afternoon walk on December 28, 2022 along the Alcoa Greenway section of the main trail about one-half mile from the end of the Maryville main trail end, I encountered many different bird species.

BUT, many of these smaller songbirds like to jump around back in the brush, limbs, and trees partially hidden from view. Getting good full body, facial, or other identification photos can be difficult to get in focus.

These are the real results where I don’t often get clear focused images I can zoom in and crop closeups.

I enjoy these “Photo hunts” and I am satisfied with these results as they show the birds in their real world and their habitat doing what they do. I got enough pictures to ID the species which I posted to iNaturalist and all have Research Grade confirmations.

On this December 28 "photo" walk the snow was mostly melted and the sky was sunny. On one 20 feet long trail section, I had a fun 4 minutes where I took 33 pictures with my digital camera. I was able to capture these 9 good shots as keepers of 3 small elusive birds that are always moving in the trees and brush. This was such great fun and why I have gotten into bird photography as a new hobby.

First a Tufted Titmouse,

then a Carolina Chickadee,

followed by the tiny

Ruby-crowned Kinglet.