Birder Forest West got a pleasant surprise when he noticed an Anhinga in a pond along the River Walk.
West located the bird on August 9th along the River Walk in a pond located behind the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. He immediately reported the observation to the Tennessee Rare Bird Alert Facebook group.
Anhingas are most often found within about 100 miles of the coast, from North Carolina to Texas.
As of the last report, the Anhinga was still present. The easiest way to access the bird is from the Chattanooga River Walk’s Curtain Pole Road parking lot. From there, follow the River Walk west to an small opening in the woods where you can see the pond. (Click to launch in Google Maps) As you look through the opening, and to your left, you will see a downed tree in the pond. The Anhinga can be seen on the downed tree, or in the water feeding near the tree.
Thanks go out to West for quickly reporting the Anhinga’s presence allowing several birders to observe it.
If you observe a infrequent or rare bird in Tennessee, please use your phone to report its presence to the Tennessee Rare Bird Alert Facebook group. When reporting an infrequent or rare bird, please include the county where the bird is located, as well as the best possible description on where you saw the bird.
Please include an address and GPS coordinates, if possible. If you capture a photo with a camera, you can use your phone’s camera to take a picture of the LED screen to include in your report from the field. The goal of the group is to share the presence as quickly as possible, so don’t worry about photo quality. You can always post a report and add a photo later to supplement the report.