FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] BBC field trip: Little Blue Heron and other goodies !

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The Bristol Bird Club's 13th of the Month Field Trip was productive today and 
participants Jacki Hinshaw, Larry McDaniel and Wallace Coffey enjoyed a nice 
morning a field.  Lunch outdoors on the patio at  Bella's was a fine final 
touch.

An immature Little Blue Heron got the day off with a surge at Crumley's Pond on 
Paddle Creek Rd. in Sullivan Co.  A nearby Pied-billed Grebe was neat.

A flock of 10 Cedar Waxwings feeding from the top of a sycamore tree at 
Riverside along the South Fork Holston was fun.  

It was also enjoyable catching Gary Barrigar getting in his fire chief red jeep 
as he was coming up from trout fishing in the river.  Of course we fussed at 
him for not being out birding.  But, to his credit,  we are impressed with his 
good effort as director of the Fall Roan Mountain Naturalist Ralley scheduled 
for Sept. 8-9-10.

Our group walked right under a tree with an adult  Bald Eagle perched just 
above our heads near River's Way at Central Holston along the river.  It flew 
out in a tight circle at eye level over the river not more than 200 feet from 
us.  The colors and details were astounding at such close range.  That was the 
first time I have ever stood under a tree with a wild Bald Eagle perched above 
me.   That did not go without our exchanging high-fives in the middle of the 
road.

A Savannah Sparrow was found on a fence post at close range on PowerLine Farms 
along Pemberton Rd. near U.S. 421 in Holston Valley.  We got a long, leisurely 
look at the bird.  This is the same site where Dave Worley and Coffey found one 
28 June 2005.  At that time it was the first breeding season record for the 
species in Sullivan Co., TN.

An interesting discovery was a pair of Mute Swan at Middlebrook Lake with two 
cygnets (young).  The young were about half the size of the adults or a little 
less.  They are gray and have bills that appear somewhat gray instead of orange 
like their parents.  Their plumage will not turn white until they are about two 
years of age.  This is one of the few successful nestings in the region.  The 
species has raised young before at Middlebrook Lake in Bristol Tennessee.

Nearby were two immature Black-crowned Night Herons.

Otherwise the day was filled with a number of Green Herons, Great Blue Herons, 
Mallards, Canada Geese, Wood Ducks and other more regular species.

Let's go birding......

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN