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 3     Issue 9     September 2004

The club was able to meet for the first time in the beautiful, new children’s wing of the Buchanan County Library. Upcoming birding events were discussed. Roger Mayhorn presented a Power Point program on Fall Warblers.
A reminder that Saturday, September 11, is Warbler Day at the Mayhorns. Be sure to bring a lawn or camp chair, your favorite soft drinks and your binoculars. Lunch will be provided by the Mayhorns. The next club meeting is on Monday, September 13. Bob Riggs will present a program on raptors. He, and possibly his wife, Diana, will meet with those members who can, at Italian Village at 5:00 PM for dinner.

On September 3, club member Dave Worley of Rosedale, VA saw 8 Broadwinged Hawks kettling just behind his shop in Russell County. It is called kettling when a number of hawks or vultures find a warm column of air or thermal and circle within it in order to gain altitude.  A reminder that on the Saturdays of September 19 and 25 BCBC members will be going to Birch Knob to watch for migrating hawks. Prepare a lunch and spend the day.

Early on the morning of August 20 Roger Mayhorn went out to his backyard and saw 2 Worm-eating Warblers, a male KY Warbler, 2 Ovenbirds, a female Hooded Warbler, a Yellow-throated Warbler, 2 Scarlet Tanagers, 3 Red-eyed Vireos and a flock of 13 Cedar Waxwings. These were the first of many flocks of migrants that Roger usually observes moving through his yard from late August through early October. Roger has been checking his yard each morning since August 20 and keeping records of the birds he finds. This Prairie Warbler, (in photo) found on September 2, is one of many species passing through each day. So far the largest number of species this year was 39, found on September 6. Here is a list of migrant species observed so far this fall in the Mayhorns’ yard. This list does not include the non-migrating birds like Cardinals, Towhees, Chickadees, Titmice, etc.
   

Great-Blue Herons have been observed along the Levisa all summer, but now they are on the move southward. Johnnie Ratliff has been watching one that has been flying low and eyeing his backyard fish pond. To our south along South Holston Lake Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets and even Red Knots, a small sandpiper have been observed stopping to feed on their way south.

Ospreys or Fish Hawks have been a common sight in late summer and early fall along the Levisa River in recent years. But this year they are scarce. The reason could be the abundance of rain this summer. Deeper water gives the fish more area in which to hide and makes it more difficult for Ospreys to catch them. Ed Talbott did see one on the river behind his house at Weller Yard recently. This is one of the few sightings this year.

Shirley Justus saw 10 Wood Ducks on a small pond on her property at Guesses Fork near Hurley. Wood Ducks have been seen there for the past few years. It is believed that they nest nearby.

David Raines has been seeing some indication of migration on his property in the Breaks. Some of the birds showing up there are Hooded Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Ovenbird, a female Blackburnian Warbler, Scarlet Tanagers, a Chestnut-sided Warbler, and flocks of Cedar Waxwings. Like Roger Mayhorn David has not yet seen the migrating flocks of Tennessee Warblers that are usually passing through by the first week of September. It seems that for some reason this species is late this year.

On September 1 this migrating Summer Tanager visited the Mayhorns’ yard on Compton Mountain. For several years Summer Tanagers were rarely seen within the county. However, within the last couple of years sightings of this species have become more common. Normally a non breeding Summer Tanager has a greenish-yellow color, but sometimes the bird will have a reddish-orange color as this one does. This species used to be known by bee owners as a “Bee Bird” because they will sometimes perch near a hive and pick the bees out of the air as they come in with their loads of nectar and pollen.

The Blackburnian Warbler is one of the most brilliantly colored warblers of the U.S. The male has flame orange on the the throat, black on the back, large white wing patches and striping on the flanks. The bird was named for two English naturalists, brother and sister Anna and Ashton Blackburne. Ashton collected bird specimens in America in the late 1700’s, probably in New York, and shipped them to his sister in England. She showed the skin of one of these warblers to a famous swedish biologist. Soon the bird was being called the Blackburnian Warbler. The bird has also been called The Torch Bird, The Hemlock Warbler, Firebrand and Orange-throated Warbler. The female is much duller in plumage than the male. This is probably to help her stay hidden as she incubates her eggs.  The Blackburnian’s summer range is across Eastern Canada, the Northeastern states of the U.S. and down the spine of the Appalachian Mountains as far south as Tennessee. This warbler is a bird of the tall timber. It prefers nesting in the mature trees of Hemlock, Red Spruce, Fir, White Spruce, American Beech, Yellow Birch and Sugar Maple. The nest is usually from 33 to 59 feet above the ground. It is constructed of sticks and roots and lined with soft down. This brightly colored warbler eats and feeds its young such insects as leafhoppers, moth caterpillars, bees, wasps, larvae, flies, aphids and spiders. Blackburnians, like most warblers, fly at night during migration, but stop to feed and rest during the day. They can be seen during fall migration passing through Buchanan County from late August through September. They spend the winter in Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and the northern part of Brazil. The colors of the this bird in its spring breeding plumage are so striking that it has become one of the favorite birds of birdwatchers.