The Chat
Buchanan County Bird Club Newsletter
Editors Roger and Lynda Mayhorn

The Buchanan County Bird Club meets the
2^nd Monday of each month at the
Buchanan County Public Library at 6:00 PM

Volume 4     Issue 8     August 2005

This meeting was unusual in that several visitors were present. Two of our Bristol members, Fred and Janice Martin, made the trip in order to see the Power Point presentation by Roger Mayhorn of the Magee Marsh trip to Lake Erie in May of this year in which Janice was a participant. Marie Miller brought students from one of her college classes. Marie brought homemade cookies and Lynda Mayhorn made Madeleines, a French pastry, for the occasion. Vice President, Ed Talbott III, presented some video at the beginning of the meeting of the Bobwhite quail that had showed up a few weeks ago at his feeder. Lynda Mayhorn gave an update on preparations for the VSO conference for May of 2006. 

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, September 16, 17, 18 – Clinch Mt. Birding Festival – Ed Talbott III will lead a bird walk at Hungry Mother State Park on Saturday morning, followed by a walk lead by Roger Mayhorn at Saltville. A third walk will take place at Raven Ridge Campground at Hayter’s Gap later in the day. On Sunday morning Ed Talbott will once again lead a 4 mile birding hike from Raven Ridge to the natural rock formation called “The Channels” for a day of hawk watching. There will also be other events including the selling of arts and crafts.Saturday, 

September 24 – Hawk Watch at Birch Knob Tower – Birders will spend the day at Birch Knob to watch migrating hawks. Bring binoculars a hat or umbrella, a chair and a lunch. At that time Red-tailed Hawks, falcons and other raptors should be passing by the tower. 

The Eastern Bluebirds have nearly finished their nesting for the year with only a few nest boxes still being occupied. Johnnie and Betty Ratliff found one nest box on the Early White Trail at Keen Mt, that was infested with Blowfly larvae. These larvae crawl up through the nest at night to suck the blood of young nestlings. One bird appeared weak. Johnnie destroyed the Blowflies, and the nestling then recovered and fledged. The last of August marks the end of the season and boxes will not be checked after that.All of the data will be turned over to Roger Mayhorn, who will then compile the information and send the report in to the VBS, the Virginia Bluebird Society. The year’s report should be included in the next newsletter issue. After the end of the season any repairs to boxes will be made if needed, and those of the Johnnie and Betty Ratliff Trail of the Breaks area will be taken down and painted before the beginning of next season.Roger Mayhorn painted the 27 boxes of the Compton Mt. Trail prior to this year’s nesting season. Those of the David Raines’ Trail at Laurel Lake in the Breaks Park were painted before they were erected this past spring by Johnnie Ratliff and Roger Mayhorn.Larry Pinson, one of our readers and fellow birders from Elkhorn City, KY, has six nest boxes on his property. This breeding season five of the six boxes have been occupied by Eastern Bluebirds or House Wrens. Some of the boxes have been used more than once.

In last month’s newsletter there were photos of the first Northern Mockingbird fledglings found in Buchanan County. They were found and photographed at the Mayhorns’ property on Compton Mt. on June 29. In mid-July Johnnie and Betty Ratliff of Little Prater near Grundy heard young birds in the top one of their Bradford Pear trees. They had seen Northern Mockingbirds making trips to the tree. On July 20 Johnnie was able to photograph (see photo) some young mockingbirds that had just fledged.On July 25 Johnnie found a mockingbird nest in a Crab Apple tree in their yard. The nest still contained one nestling, which fledged within a few hours after the nest was found. This is more evidence that Northern Mockingbirds have expanded their range to include Buchanan County. Bird ranges are not rigid. Ranges are constantly shrinking or expanding depending on the species. Northern Mockingbirds have been expanding their range northward for the last century.From talking to you birders of Elkhorn City, KY we know that mockingbirds have been nesting in that area for 10 – 12 years. We also found out that mockingbirds are now nesting in Letcher County KY, where they had not been 15 to 20 years ago. After talking with birders of WV it was found that mockingbirds have been nesting in Mingo County for several years and also in Raleigh and Greenbrier Counties. Jim Phillips, the naturalist and avid birder at Pipestem State Park in Summers County WV between Bluefield and Hinton, says that, according to his records, Northern Mockingbirds have been nesting in Summers County for the past 30 years. So it was just a matter of time until this species started nesting here in Buchanan County. Mockingbirds are really interesting birds, and it looks like they are here to stay. Enjoy them. 

On July 15 David Raines and Roger Mayhorn birded three areas on Compton Mt. They found several flocks of feeding birds and logged 37 species. The warbler highlights were a female Cerulean, a species that is becoming scarce in some areas of the country, 5 American Redstarts, 9 Black-and-white Warblers, 1 Black-throated Blue Warbler, 3 Black-throated Green Warblers (see photo), 1 male Chestnut-sided Warbler, 7 Hooded Warblers, 1 Worm-eating Warbler and 1 Yellow-throated Warbler. Yellow-throated, Blue Headed and Red-eyed were 3 species of vireos found. Also found were 3 species of swallows – Barn Swallow, Northern Rough-winged and Tree Swallow.

Most serious birders keep a life list that shows when they first saw a particular species of bird. Cheryl Thompson, one of our new bird club members, lives at Big Rock, VA. Cheryl is a beginning birder and on July 14 she saw her first Eastern Towhee. On July 17 she got very excited when she was able to add her first Indigo Bunting like the one in this photo to her life list. Congratulations Cheryl! You have a lot more fun to look forward to as you add more species to your list. Feel free to call on the more experienced club members if you have trouble with an identification.

Blackburnian Warblers nest in Buchanan County only at the highest elevations, and are not usually seen at the lower elevations until fall migration begins. While checking the bluebird nest boxes on the Mountain Top Golf Course on Compton Mt. on July 20, Roger Mayhorn found a first year female Blackburnian Warbler like the one in this photo. This is a new early date for this species in the lower areas of the county. While doing an early morning July 24 hike along the ridge road of Compton Mt. Roger found two more Blackburnian Warblers, 1 male and 1 female. The previous early date for this species was July 31. That bird was found in 2004 by Ed Talbott III at his home at Weller Yard on the Levisa River.

On July 24, the morning Roger Mayhorn found the two Blackburnian Warblers, he also found 42 other species in the area. A few of the highlights of the hike were American Redstarts, Black-and-white Warblers, Hooded Warblers, a Worm-eating Warbler, Yellow-throated Warblers and Yellow Warblers. Also seen were Cedar Waxwings, a Cooper’s Hawk, Eastern Kingbirds, Eastern Meadowlarks, Indigo Buntings, Scarlet Tanagers, Wood Thrushes and Yellow-throated Vireos.

Ed and Michelle Talbott went boating and skiing at Claytor Lake on July 25 with friends. While there they saw two Caspian Terns over the lake. This coastal species sometimes stops by inland lakes as it migrates southward. Michelle also saw an Osprey take a fish from the lake, and under Rt. 672 bridge the group saw numerous Cliff Swallows. Green Herons were everywhere and 3 Great Blue Herons were also spotted.

Roger and Lynda Mayhorn have been finding large patches of dove feathers in their yard recently. This is indicative of hawk predation. A hawk will patiently pull the feathers from its dead prey, one beakful at a time, before eating it. In late July a hawk flew up from the lawn within a couple of feet of the Mayhorns’ porch as they pulled into the driveway. It was carrying a Mourning Dove, which it had already picked. On August 1 a loud bang against the glass dining room door startled Lynda as she stood near the kitchen bar. She glanced up to see a Sharp-shinned Hawk leaving the door. The hawk flew to the nearby cherry tree where it sat for awhile. Roger took some photos. Feathers just outside the door looked more like dove feathers than those of a hawk. After a few minutes of looking around the Sharpie flew to another tree. Roger was trying to relocate it, when an immature Red-shouldered Hawk came flying over the treetops, trying to gain altitude. After a few spirals upward it headed eastward. The Sharp-shinned then headed deeper into the woods. The next day, when Roger was mowing the grass, he found a dead Mourning Dove a few dozen yards from the house. The dove had not been disturbed. Roger suspects that this dove hit the door at about the same time as the hawk, but managed to fly some distance before falling from the air. The hawk may have been too dazed to give chase.

On August 3 Richard Kretz, a fellow birder from Elk Garden in Russell County, came over to Compton Mt. to do some birding and bird photography with Roger Mayhorn. The two started in Roger’s yard and were not disappointed. They soon had a couple of Black-throated Green Warblers, a female Black-and-white, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Scarlet Tanagers, a Yellow Warbler, a White-eyed Vireo and Red-eyed Vireos, Cedar Waxwings, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and Chipping Sparrows. In fact as the two walked into the field near the Mayhorn house a fledgling Chipping Sparrow (see Richard’s photo), struggling to stay airborne, flew in a beeline and landed on Roger’s chest. Roger then attempted to set the bird on a low branch, but the youngster insisted on flying down into the wet grass. The parent birds fed the little one and the sun soon dried it. 32 species were counted for the day and Richard got photos of several species he had not previously photographed.