FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] waterfowl numbers sag.

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Waterfowl numbers may have taken a significant dip in the Bristol area
during the last week or so.  Mid-day checks at several frequented 
sites are not producing much diversity.  

No where is this more evident than at Middlebrook Lake in east Bristol,
Sullivan Co., TN.  It will take us a week or two before we can asses the 
actual impact of the high pressure and warm temperatures that influenced 
the birds.

Two days of checking at Middlebrook have found only three Hooded
Mergansers and no Ring-necked Ducks, Gadwall and such.  Two or three
grebes and the usual coots, mallards and swans are about it.  There
were no Hooded Mergansers found there Tuesday at noon.  While 
numbers can vary and results vary at any hour of the day,  a sample
that low at any hour suggest the population is dispersing for spring.

A quick survey over the ponds and smaller holdings in the upper reaches
of eastern Sullivan County in the area found about American Wigeon 13, 
Ring-necked Ducks 24 and a couple of Gadwall.  All of these were in the 
Sinking Creek Watershed 

An estimated 500 Ring-billed Gulls were in a cove adjacent to
Washington County (VA) Park on South Holston Lake Tuesday.
These were observed from Lake Road and appeared as a white
cloud low over the water when the gulls were distributed.

In the Beaver Creek Watershed, Clear Creek Lake, Washington Co., VA,
had an estimated population of 100 Hooded Mergansers and maybe 
50 Ring-billed Gull. 

These sudden late-winter drops at Middlebrook are not well understood.
It is clear that Hooded Mergansers normally leave there by mid to late
February most years.  Is this tied to some depletion of aquatic food
staple at that site in late winter ?

Diversity remains low at both the Weir Dam and Musick's 
Campground and numbers for those locations are not included here.

Let's go birding......

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN