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 6:30 PM

Volume 2     Issue 2     February 2003

January 13 Meeting

The meeting began with a call by President Roger Mayhorn for nominations for club officers.  A motion was made by Sheldon Woods to keep the incumbent officers through the next year. The motion was seconded and passed.

Ed Talbott presented a program showing video of his and Michelle’s trip to the meeting of the Virginia Society of Ornithology that was held at Virginia Beach the week-end of Dec. 7-8, 2002. Ed presented some excellent video.

We would like to welcome two new members to the Buchanan County Bird Club. Johnnie and Betty Ratliff of Little Prater recently joined the club. We look forward to seeing them at club meetings and club outings.  Johnnie and Betty feed a large number of hummingbirds during the summer. For several years they had Orchard Orioles nesting in their yard.

On January 14 Ed & Mary Talbott had a Pine Siskin at their feeder at Big Rock.  This is one of the few recorded sightings within the county this winter, another sighting being at Dr. Clint Sutherland’s house at Hobb’s Branch where he had two Siskins.

The Talbotts also had a Ruby Crowned Kinglet visit their peanut butter feeder, and an un identified warbler, possibly a Pine Warbler, that stopped by.

Ed & Michelle Talbott along with a couple of friends did some Owling on Guesses Fork on Jan. 17.  They didn’t have any luck with larger owl species, but they heard three Eastern Screech Owls, one of which landed in a tree near them. They got to see the owl with the aid of a flashlight.

Roger Mayhorn recently compiled the data from all of the migratory birds that passed through his yard last fall from August 13 to Oct. 13.  He had 65 migrant species during that period with a total of 1844 birds. 25 of the 65 species were warblers with a total of 541 individual warblers.  The most numerous warbler seen was the Tennessee. The entire list is on the last page of this newsletter.

On January 23 Todd Perkins birded near his grandparents’ house on Deskins.  He found the following species, Pileated Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Mourning Doves, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadee, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Field Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Eastern Towhees and Northern Cardinals. The White-throated Sparrow burst into song. Can spring be far away?

Eastern Towhees are appearing at various feeders throughout the county. Sheldon and Orpha Woods have three at their feeders. Grayson Perkins saw three at a feeder on Big A Mountain. He was told by the owner that seeing these birds there during winter is unusual. It’s possibly due to the elevation. The birds seem to prefer the lower elevations during winter. This handsome male showed up at the feeder of Roger & Lynda Mayhorn on Compton Mountain. They normally see them during the summer, but not often in winter.

Dave and Diane Worley had four White-crowned Sparrows at their feeder near Rosedale, VA on January 23. This was a first for them. Russell County appears to have many White-crowns, whereas Buchanan County has few White-crowns but a large number of White-throated Sparrows.

In addition to the White-crowns the Worley’s also had dozens of Dark-eyed Juncos, a Fox Sparrow, 2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, 2 White-breasted Nuthatches, 4 Tufted Titmice, 1 Downy Woodpecker, 9 Northern Cardinals, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 21 Mourning Doves, 17 Goldfinches, 4 House Finches, 4 Carolina Chickadees, 6 Blue Jays, 1 Mockingbird coming for water and 4 Common Ravens circling overhead.

Three Purple Finches have decided to stay the winter at the Mayhorns.  There are two males like the one pictured here and one female.  Other than these winter visitors and a few Pine Siskins no other unusual species have been seen in the county. Most years Evening Grosbeaks are seen but not this winter.  There have also been no sightings of Red-breasted Nuthatches, nor the occasional Tree Sparrow.  This may be due to the lack of wild food in the area this year.  Normal food sources like Wild Grapes and Autumn Olives are not to be found in abundance.

Ed & Michelle Talbott got two lifebirds added to their lifelists when they birded the Bristol area on January 25.  At the Weir Dam, near Holston Dam, they added the Redhead Duck and later at Middlebrook Lake Michelle added the Mute Swan. At Musick’s Campground they found a pair of Long-tailed Ducks, formerly known as Oldsquaw. They also saw Hooded Mergansers, American Coots, Horned Grebes, Eared Grebes, Pied-billed Grebes and Common Loons. In addition to the waterfowl they saw an American Pipit feeding along the shoreline. 

On Jan 27 David Raines found two Gadwalls near the sewage plant at Raven, VA. These Ducks are not that common to our area but are seen occasionally, though not in Buchanan County. The Gadwalls were among a flock of Mallards, Wood Ducks and a couple of Black Ducks. Ed & Michelle Talbott found 13 Gadwalls on Whitten Mill Pond in Tazewell County on February 2.

Also on the 2^nd Ed & Michelle found 2 Green-winged Teal and 12 Black Ducks among others at Doran Bottom near the sewage plant. They found their first Rough-legged Hawk of the season. Rough-leggs are only here in winter. The two then went on to Falls Mills and Burkes Garden where they found Canada Geese, American Coots, Green-winged Teal, 2 Northern Pintails (lifebirds), Wilson’s Snipe and a Loggerhead Shrike. 

During the first couple of days of February Roger Mayhorn heard a Common Raven croaking as it flew from ridge to ridge near his house on Compton Mountain. Ravens are seen occasionally in that area. They were last seen there last fall. On February 6, Roger & Lynda Mayhorn had 16 species and 202 birds at their feeders with 102 Goldfinches, 17 Northern Cardinals and 38 Mourning Doves. On February 7 they had 33 Cardinals.

Club members you will be interested in reading this excerpt from a letter concerning the BCBC web site. Roger Mayhorn received this email from an Arlington, VA resident on January 30.

Greetings Fellow Birders, 

Your club has a very nice web site. I enjoy reading your newsletters and going through the photo gallery, which I usually access through Roger Mayhorn’s postings.

Since I am a birder of, I would guess, intermediate skills, I find the photos very useful for improving those skills. Roger Mayhorn’s Dec. 23 photo of a Purple Finch was particularly useful.

I just thought you might like to know that people in other areas use and enjoy your sight. It looks like a lot of hard work goes into creating it. 

Roger Mayhorn’s Data Compilation

Of Migratory Yard Birds – Compton Mt. - Buchanan Co. VA
August 13, 2002 – October 13, 2002

65 migrant species totaling 1844 birds
25 warbler species totaling 541 birds

Warblers                                                                     Other Migrants

Tennessee Warbler  208                                                      American Robins  266
Yellow-rumped Warbler  58                                               Common Nighthawk  209
Yellow-throated Warbler  46                                              Scarlet Tanager  158
Black-throated Green Warbler  44                                    Chipping Sparrow  69
Magnolia Warbler 28                                                           Ruby-throated Hummingbird  65
Chestnut-sided Warbler  24                                                Northern Flicker 62
Cape May Warbler  21                                                        Gray Catbird  52
American Redstart  16                                                         Swainson’s Thrush  43
Blackburnian Warbler  15                                                  Blue Jay  37
Palm Warbler  10                                                                 Rose-breasted Grosbeak  34
Worm-eating Warbler  10                                                   White-eyed Vireo  32
Hooded Warbler  12                                                             Red-eyed Vireos  29
Black-and-white Warbler  9                                                Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  25
Bay-breasted Warbler 7                                                       Broad-winged Hawk  24
Northern Parula  7                                                               Eastern Kingbird  24
Blue-winged Warbler  5                                                       Wood Thrush  24
Prairie Warbler  5                                                                 Eastern Wood Pewee  20
Common Yellowthroat  4                                                     Brown Thrasher  18
Pine Warbler  3                                                                     Baltimore Oriole  16
Yellow Warbler  3                                                                Yellow-billed Cuckoo  14
Cerulean Warbler  2                                                            Chimney Swift  11
Black-throated Blue Warbler  1                                          Blue-headed Vireo  9
Canada Warbler  1                                                               Cooper’s Hawk  9
Mourning Warbler  1                                                           Great-crested Flycatcher  9
Orange-crowned Warbler  1                                                Yellow-throated Vireo  7
                                                                                                Common Raven  5
                                                                                                Summer Tanager  5
                                                                                                Barn Swallow  4
                                                                                                Empidonax sp. ?   4
                                                                                                Veery  3
                                                                                                Ovenbird  2
                                                                                                Philadelphia Vireo  2
                                                                                                Ruby-crowned Kinglet  2
                                                                                                Warbling Vireo  2
                                                                                                Comorant sp. ? 1 (Double-crested ?)
                                                                                                Gray-cheeked Thrush  1
                                                                                                Great Blue Heron  1
                                                                                                House Wren  1
                                                                                                Indigo Bunting  1
                                                                                                Peregrine Falcon  1
                                                                                                Vireo sp. ?  1 (possibly a Warbling)
                                                                                                Vireo sp. ?  1 (Philadelphia ?)