BCBC Newsletter - March 2003

	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 3 March 2003
February 17^th Meeting: The club meeting on Feb. 17^th was a busy one as club members worked diligently on assembling 13 Bluebird nest boxes for the first Bluebird trail in Buchanan County. Thanks and appreciation also go to Mrs. Glema Auville, owner of the Mountaintop Golf Course on Compton Mountain, where the proposed Bluebird trail will be established. Club members hope to have the nest boxes up for use within the next couple of weeks.
Two guests from Chile, Jorge and Paula Sabag, attended the Feb. 17^th meeting. Jorge (or George) and Paula are the friends of Roger & Lynda Mayhorn and were their guests for a week, during the blizzard that brought the large amounts of ice and snow to the east coast. Jorge was an exchange student at Grundy High School in 1980. The Sabags live in the town of Concepcion in Chile. They have three beautiful little girls. Jorge’s father is a senator in the Chilean government. Jorge has just completed law school and also wants to go into politics. He enjoyed helping with the Bluebird box assembly.
New Member: The club would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest member, Wallace Coffey of Bristol, TN. Wallace is a recognized authority on the birds of Northeast Tennessee, and is also a wealth of general ornithological information. We look forward to working and birding with Wallace. He has already been very helpful in getting our new club pointed in the right direction.
Interesting Events: On Feb. 16^th Ed & Michelle Talbott birded the Breaks Park in spite of the rain and high waters. They found Laurel Lake still partially frozen, but they did find 4 Wood Ducks, 15 Robins, several Eastern Bluebirds, 2 Mallards and 1 Red-shouldered Hawk. To see the trip in more detail Click Here. Feb. 15^th Bob Riggs and Tom Hunter of the Russell County Bird Club were birding a section of Buchanan County and found 3 Black-capped Chickadees on Indian Creek. Black-caps are not common here but are seen occasionally. This area is where the range of the Black-caps to the north meets the range of the Carolina Chickadee to the south. It is possible to see both here and sometimes they interbreed to form a hybrid of the two species. Feb. 18^th new club member Johnnie Ratliff of Little Prater had and interesting experience with a raptor. As Johnny was driving across the Little Prater bridge a hawk suddenly swooped in and caught a Rock Dove (pigeon) in midair. It dropped onto the bridge and began to feed. A coal truck came across the bridge and almost hit the hawk, which refused to move. Johnnie got out of his vehicle and went over to the bird. After some effort he managed to get the bird to take to the air. He said it barely cleared the wall on the bridge while carrying its meal to go with it. Johnnie is a beginning birder and was not sure of the hawk species, but we club members will certainly help him learn to identify the different species, right gang?
While birding Burkes Garden recently, Ed Talbott tried to add this strange bird to his lifelist. Since everyone knows that Pea Fowl are not native to the U.S. Ed tried to convince Roger Mayhorn that there must have recently been an irruption of these birds from India to the U.S. J Ed did see 1 Rough-legged Hawk, 4 Red-tails, 1 Kestrel and 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, as well as many other birds. If you would like to see the complete story along with more of Ed’s photos Click Here.
Young, competent birder, Todd Perkins, got a lifebird on Feb. 23^rd, when he located a Winter Wren near his grandparents home on Deskins. Todd’s lifelist is growing daily. Good job Todd! On Feb. 25^th Todd found two Wild Turkey gobblers in full courtship strut. The early date for Todd finding one in full courtship display last year was Feb. 2^nd . Jeff Boardwine, while doing his school bus run, has been watching for birds. Recently he has seen a large Red-tailed Hawk, a flock of 7 Wild Turkeys near the Forestry Division building and a Great Blue Heron on Prater. With the leaves off the trees he noticed two ponds on Sunset Hollow, which Roger Mayhorn checked out for waterfowl. Unfortunately, at that time there were no birds on the ponds. Jeff’s mother recently had a Red-winged Blackbird at her feeder. She had one about this same time last year. On Feb. 23^rd Roger & Lynda Mayhorn had their first Red-wing to show up at their feeders. Each day the number increased, going to 4, 8, 18 and finally 45. Ten Common Grackles have also been getting their share of the sunflower seeds there. The 4 Purple Finches that have become regulars at the Mayhorns’ this winter are still there. A Fox Sparrow has been dropping by periodically. One was last seen there on March 9, 2003. Just before the snow began falling on Feb. 25^th Roger Mayhorn heard crows making a racket near his yard. Upon investigation he saw a large bird being harassed by a few crows. The large bird turned out to be an eagle, though positive species ID couldn’t be determined due to the fact that the bird was flying away and was silhouetted against the gray clouds. The only positive identification for an eagle within the county was made by Ed Talbott III in April of 2001. On Feb. 28^th David Raines called Roger Mayhorn to let him know that the Woodcock had returned to the field near his house, and that they were doing their courting flights. On March 3, Roger & Lynda went to David’s to watch the display. They were not disappointed. As the last rays of sun faded from the western sky a Woodcock began to “peent”. This is a low pitched sound made to attract a mate. After a few minutes of calling the bird took to the air, the twittering sound of his wings being heard through the twilight. He flew upwards to about 300 ft. He hovered there momentarily while singing his song, then flew in wide spirals back to earth with wings twittering to settle again on his favorite spot of ground. Within a few seconds the “peent” sound started again. If you have never heard nor seen this courtship display you should go to see it before the birds pair off to nest. The trip is definitely worth the effort.
The Bluestone Dam and Sandstone Falls were the areas birded on March 1^st by Ed & Barbara Caudill along with Roger & Lynda Mayhorn. The Red-breasted Merganser and the Hooded Merganser pictured here were two of the birds seen on the trip. The New River was swollen and muddy, but the day was warm and sunny. A Ring-necked Duck, Pied-billed Grebes and Ring-billed Gulls were also found. A Brown Creeper and a Winter Wren were found near Sandstone Falls, a beautiful area to bird.
Dave Worley, one of our Russell County club members, stopped by Stuart’s Pond at Rosedale to check it out. There he found a Northern Shoveler (right), 1 Canada Goose and 1 Mallard. Shovelers get their name from their very long bill. At first glance the male resembles a male Mallard, but the male Shoveler has a white breast and reddish-brown sides whereas the Mallard has a reddish-brown breast with light colored sides. *Gadwall and Northern Shoveler*
Roger & Lynda Mayhorn spent the day on March 7 searching the mountain sides along the Levisa River for large nests. They were hoping to find Great Blue Heron Nests, which are believed to be in the county, but have never been found. Instead they found two large nests, thanks to Lynda’s sharp eyes, that are believed to have been built by Ospreys. One nest is on the far side of the river from Hardees and the other is across the river from Clevinger Curve. Later in the day Ed Talbott found a third nest across the river from Riverview Elementary School. Ospreys have been seen often in the last few years along the river. They have been observed feeding young, but a nest had never been found. These nests will be watched closely in the next few weeks to see if they do belong to Ospreys.
The Buchanan County Bird Club was asked to submit an article for the Mountaineer to show what has gone on with the club during the last year. Roger & Lynda Mayhorn, and Ed & Michelle Talbott have written an article. It should appear in the newspaper sometime near the end of March.
A Common Raven was seen wheeling and diving in front of the mountain of rock in Grundy on March 6^th by Roger & Lynda Mayhorn. To their knowledge a Raven has never been seen near the town in recent history. It is believed that the bird was attracted by the newly exposed rock, where the mountain has been removed to make space for the new town of Grundy. According to Wallace Coffey Ravens have been known to nest as low as 1000 ft. elevation. Grundy is very near that level. The Raven was being harassed by two crows, but refused to leave the area. Because of this it is hoped that the bird may be nesting on one of the rocky terraces of the mountain. Mr. Coffey says that Ravens usually have eggs in the nest by St Patrick’s Day, March 17^th. Close attention will be given this area within the next few weeks.
Recently, Ed Talbott and Roger Mayhorn met Wallace Coffey at Musick’s Campground on South Holston Lake to do some birding in Northeast Tennessee. Wallace lives in Bristol, is a member of the Bristol bird club, and knows the birds and the area well. At Musick’s a Tree Swallow flew past. One had been seen there the week before, but for Ed and Roger this was their first one of the season. Wallace led the two to Pemberton Road, where a rookery (a nesting colony) of Great Blue Herons is getting into the swing of nesting. Four adult Herons were observed on or near nests. This is the only known nesting colony in the area. The nearest one being in Saltville, VA. Next the three went to Crumley’s Pond off Paddle Creek Road in Sullivan County. There 6 Pintails were seen among Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Wood Ducks and Canada Geese. The group then made their way to Wilbur Lake below Watauga Lake. Nearly a hundred Bufflehead, like the ones pictured here, were seen on the lake. On Watauga Lake a dozen Ring-necked Ducks were found. Between birding stops Wallace shared with Roger and Ed some of his vast knowledge of the area, the watershed, the geography, and showed them the best areas in which to locate birds. In addition he gave advice on how to manage a newly formed bird club, like our own. The reason for the trip to this part of Tennessee was because Ed Talbott had been invited to show some of his excellent birding video to the Herndon chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society. He had shown video a few weeks before to the Bristol Bird Club. Ed did an excellent job of presenting his video of western U.S. birds, and explaining the workings of his video camera. Near the end of the meeting Roger was asked to explain a bit about his digital still camera, that he uses in making most of his bird photographs.
Saturday, March 8, eight members of the Buchanan County Bird Club made a trip to Burkes Garden. The day was beautiful and a very warm 63 degrees. Red-tailed Hawks were in abundance with 15 seen. 4 Rough-legged Hawks were found as well. 9 Green-winged Teal were observed, 1 Horned Lark and 3 Wild Turkeys. The group had lunch at the store in Burkes Garden. In addition to birds 14 deer, 1 Muskrat, 1 Red Fox, 5 Woodchucks and 1 bat were seen. After leaving the Garden Ed Talbott and David Raines went to a pond in Russell County where Red-necked Grebes had been located earlier by Bob Riggs. Ed shot some video from which the pictures below were taken. They also saw the Northern Shovelers on Stuart’s Pond.
Red-necked Grebes in SW Virginia: Red-necked Grebes, normally a bird of the northwestern United States and Canada, have exploded all over the northeastern United States in the last few weeks. They are showing up on lakes and small ponds everywhere. They have been sighted from Cape Charles on the eastern VA shore to Russell County on the other end of the state. This gives birders, who otherwise may not travel out west to see these beautiful waterfowl, a chance to add this bird to their lifelists. Three members of the club, Ed Talbott, Roger Mayhorn and David Raines have had the opportunity to see these rare birds and to add one more to their lifelists. This sudden influx of strange birds into an area they do not normally inhabit is called an irruption. Irruptions happen periodically as we see in our area with Red-breasted Nuthatches, Pine Siskins, Evening Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls. These irruptions add a great deal of fun to birding.
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