FreeLists / bristol-birds / [bristol-birds] shorebird migration is underway

[Wallace Coffey <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Bristol Area Birders:

If you are going to sleep in your cool homes, just remember
that shorebird migration is underway. 

Kevin Hamed has had some good early migrants at Steele
Creek Park in Bristol, Tennessee but he is one of those
young computer-shy guys and we haven't seen a thing
from him on TN-Birds :-) 

Jeff Blaylock reports the following along the Staunton  river
just up the great valley of Virginia to our north:

Spotted Sandpiper - 5
Pectoral Sandpiper - 15
Least Sandpiper - 5
Greater Yellowlegs - 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 10

Shorebirds are pouring throught the Missississippi Flyway
in West Tennessee and the reports are streaming  in on the
TN-Birds listserv.  A Ruff is causing much excitement at
Memphis.  A Dark-eyed Junco has been seen in Mississippi
and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak has been picked up in
the very deep south.  A possible Black-and-white Warbler
was reported from the Memphis area on TN-Birds this
last week.

The official fall migration season  in Tennessee and Southwest
Virginia (August 1 thru November 30) is just 10 days away.
The birds don't let that stop them.

Remember that Austin Springs (Johnson City), Musick's
Campground (South Holston Lake, TN/VA) and Spring
Creek Embayment (South Holston Lake, VA) are promising
shorebird areas.

Of course nothing in our Mountain Flyway or the Southern
Applachians can live up to the spectacular numbers at
Rankin Bottom (Cocke Co. TN) or Kingston Steam Plant
just west of Knoxville.

Musick's Campground is in prime condition for small mudflat
areas and Spring Creek is excellent.

Someone needs to look in at the Saltville Ponds (Smyth/Washington
counties in Va) to see if the water is down.  You can't find better
shorebirding in all of Southwest Virginia when the mudflats are
exposed at Saltville.

Also remember that the Rural Retreat Lake mudflats (Wythe Co.
VA)  are wonderful when the water starts down and it is worth every
mile when it is on the roll.

West View Ponds in Washingto Co., TN should start producing 
something and the crowd in Greene Co., TN has shown us the
fruits of the Wal-Mart Distribution center pond.  Does it have water?
Don't ever forget the dramatic numbers of shorebirds the Green
Co. birders raked up in flooded, grassy fields just after hard rains.

The same goes for very good shorebirds that show up in places
like Elk Garden in Russell County, VA and at the least-expected
little Lodi Pond on Va. Rt. 91 in Washington Co., VA.

I bet we have exccellent mudflats at Roan Creek (Johnson Co., TN on
the upper end of Watauga Lake) at this time.

The drought has caused some real draw downs in these upstream
impoundments like Watauga and South Holston.  Rankin Bottoms
and Austin Springs probably have some ways to go to expose the
big and reachable mudflats.  Rankin will explode before long and
we'll all be pouring in there for the great gathering of birders.  The
canoe trips down there are already turning up large numbers of
waterbirds.

We had beautiful, crystal-clear air thru Friday.  However, the changes
in the weather brought in  haze and the smog is building
 in the Tri-Cities.  I had to drag out my eyedrops
today.  I was in Western Carolina along the Blue Ridge Parkway and
it rained for almost four solid hours.  The smog in Washington Co.
Virginia had already settled in by 10 a.m. Sunday as I headed for
the Blue Ridge.

'We may not get clear air until a good cold front pushes in.

For those of you who have not paid attention,  Northeast Tennessee
has, over the years, been considered by the EPA as among the
air quality regions of considerabler concern.  The Smokies have
just awful air quality and it is probably poor at the present.

Start watching all the wet puddles, muddy bottoms and good 
shorebird areas.  They're here and the birding should start roaring.

Let's go birding......

Wallace Coffey
Bristol








 



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