FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Bends of the Holston, Hawkins Co. TN

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Don Holt and I birded across Bays Mountain from Kingsport through Blair Gap and 
Goshen Valley today (3/21), enroute to the Bends of the Holston River in 
Hawkins County, TN.
An Osprey, Northern Harrier male, two American Woodcocks and two Savannah 
Sparrows, all at Phipps Bend, were among our best finds.  It was our first 
Osprey of the season.  We stayed until dark to look for a possible Short-eared 
Owl but did not find the specie.  Just before dark we counted 87 White-tailed 
Deer.

We had 43 Tree Swallows at the Surgoinsville river bridge.

A bird we judged to be an adult male Sharp-shinned Hawk spent consderable time 
hunting on the ground in the open along the river downstream from Christian 
Bend.  It searched the wet terrain not much different than a robin or starling 
seeking wroms.  At one point it made a half-hearted run towards a Wilson's 
Snipe which quickly flushed and left in zigzag flight.  We watched the hawk for 
a long period until it finally flew away without success.

Other species of interest along the river, downstream from McPheeter Bend, were:

Wood Duck  6
Blue-winged Teal  1
Double-creasted Cormorant  9
Black Vulture  22
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Pine Warbler  1

Eastern Meadowlarks were in full song in a number of places.

We found the habitat in the deep north-facing cove drainage, from Blair Gap 
down to the river, to be curious.  The shaded areas contained a consderable 
amount of Great Rhododendron which is not otherwise often encountered away from 
the mountains in the ridge and valley region.  As intriguing as the habitat 
appears, it's potential for montane breeders is probably limited by low 
elevation (under 2,000 feet).   A few breeding season sampling trips would be 
interesting.  The area has mature hemlock along the watercourses in cool, 
shaded environs. 

The Bends area is under birded.  The wide river bottoms and flood plains have 
many exceptional wet areas, ponds and pools for shorebirds.  The area hosts 
significant waterflow populations in winter with close access.   

TRIVA:  Don reminded me that this is the area where Sissy Spacek filmed 
portions of her 1984 movie "The River."   Much of the movie was filmed on 440 
acres of land purchased by Universal Studios along the Holston River. It was 
cleared and turned into working farms in four weeks. The production regulated 
the river for flood scenes with a dam that was slated for repair. The dam was 
fixed and altered with the help of the U.S. Army of Engineers

Let's go birding.......

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN





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