Birds at the dock

August 12, 2026: 37 species identified by BirdNET listening to the dock microphone. Ruby-throated Hummingbird was the most active with 3h 39m active; Barn Swallow traveled farthest, a 9,700 mi round trip.

Minutes active by hour

Each bar counts the 1-minute windows in which BirdNET identified a species at high confidence (its minutes active), bucketed by Eastern Time hour. The dawn chorus typically peaks between 6 and 8 a.m.

☀ SUNRISE 6:55 AMSUNSET ☾ 8:31 PM025507510012 AM4 AM8 AMNOON4 PM8 PM

Species heard

Ruby-throated Hummingbird
3h 39m active
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-headed Woodpecker
2h 17m active
Red-headed Woodpecker
Carolina Wren
1h 39m active
Carolina Wren
American Crow
1h 7m active
American Crow
Osprey
36 minutes active
Osprey
Blue Jay
30 minutes active
Blue Jay
Northern Cardinal
29 minutes active
Northern Cardinal
Tufted Titmouse
28 minutes active
Tufted Titmouse
Summer Tanager
26 minutes active
Summer Tanager
White-breasted Nuthatch
23 minutes active
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Chickadee
18 minutes active
Carolina Chickadee
Northern Mockingbird
15 minutes active
Northern Mockingbird
Eastern Bluebird
14 minutes active
Eastern Bluebird
Mourning Dove
12 minutes active
Mourning Dove
Pileated Woodpecker
11 minutes active
Pileated Woodpecker
American Goldfinch
11 minutes active
American Goldfinch
Eastern Screech-Owl
9 minutes active
Eastern Screech-Owl
Belted Kingfisher
9 minutes active
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
7 minutes active
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Eastern Kingbird
6 minutes active · 8,200 mi round trip
Eastern Kingbird
Cedar Waxwing
6 minutes active
Cedar Waxwing
Great Blue Heron
5 minutes active
Great Blue Heron
Purple Martin
5 minutes active
Purple Martin
Barn Swallow
4 minutes active · 9,700 mi round trip
Barn Swallow
Chipping Sparrow
4 minutes active
Chipping Sparrow
Fish Crow
3 minutes active
Fish Crow
Downy Woodpecker
3 minutes active
Downy Woodpecker
Wild Turkey
3 minutes active
Wild Turkey
Red-shouldered Hawk
3 minutes active
Red-shouldered Hawk
3 minutes active
Green Heron
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher
3 minutes active
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher
Common Grackle
2 minutes active
Common Grackle
Red-bellied Woodpecker
2 minutes active
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Great Crested Flycatcher
2 minutes active · 5,000 mi round trip
Great Crested Flycatcher
House Finch
2 minutes active
House Finch
Barred Owl
2 minutes active
Barred Owl
Black-crowned Night Heron
2 minutes active
Black-crowned Night Heron

How this works

A microphone is mounted at the dock at Tennessee River Mile 559.5, listening to the lake 24/7. Audio runs through BirdNET from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, an open-source neural network that identifies bird species by sound. Detections at high confidence are tallied here.

Bird photos are pulled automatically from Wikipedia and cropped to the bird with YOLOv8 object detection. Individual photo credits are on each species' Wikipedia page.