FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] red-shouldered hawk nest; accipiter nest on greenbelt in kingsport

["Rick Phillips" <rickanddonna98@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I spent an hour or so watching the red-shouldered hawk nest on the greenbelt in 
Kingsport this morning.  I arrived about 8:30 am at the red-shouldered nest.  
The birds have been adding branches with fresh green leaves to the nest for 
over a week now.  I saw this again this morning.  An adult bird broke off a 
leafy twig and carried it to the nest.  As the bird was arranging the twig a 
young hawk jumped up on the side of the nest and flapped it's wings briefly and 
settled back into the nest.  The young bird was still "wooly" but had it's wing 
feathers and short tail feathers.  This is the first and only time I've been 
able to see any positive evidence of a nest with active young.  I couldn't see 
any babies until this one hopped up out of the nest.  The nest is bulkier and 
deeper due to the additions of the fresh twigs by the adults.  The adults are 
usually quite vocal, but I was there for about an hour today and didn't hear a 
peep out of them.
On the way out I decided to see if I could relocate the accipiter nest first 
reported by Don Holt.  I had found what I thought was this nest a few weeks 
ago, but never saw any activity around it.  I stopped at the cable-gate 
entrance facing Reedy Creek and looked across the creek upslope at about the 
11:00 position (slightly to my left).  As luck would have it just about the 
time I got my binocs on the nest an exchange took place with one adult leaving 
the nest and another arriving.  There were a lot of leaves between me and the 
nest making it difficult to locate and to see the birds.  I probably would not 
have found it if I hadn't already known where to look from my visits back when 
the leaves were just coming out.  The birds looked awfully small for Cooper's 
Hawks.  The larger of the two settled in on the nest and sat there for about 30 
minutes without leaving.  She was still there when I left.  Still couldn't make 
a positive id on this pair.  

Still at least 6 pairs of Yellow-crowned Night Herons nesting in the trees in 
this area.  Also present were a couple of Great Crested Flycatchers.  Three 
Rusty Blackbirds were still present at the parking area at this access point.  

Rick

Rick Phillips
Kingsport, Tennessee


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