FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Sullivan County herons et al

[Dnldhlt@xxxxxxx]

Sat. 10 APR 2004
Sullivan Co., TN
D. Holt

     On the rocks in the river below Boone Dam I observed a Great Egret, a 
Snowy Egret and 17 Black-crowned Night-herons at 1:30 pm Saturday.  The 
breeding 
plumes of both egrets were quite beautiful.
     At the Great Blue Heron colony below Fort Henry Dam I counted 16 nests 
with Great Blue Herons on them, plus a few more birds standing on limbs nearby 
and several small and/or empty nests.  It is quite possible a few nests 
appearing empty were actually occupied.  Most birds seen on the nest were 
sitting, 
with only a bit of head or back visible.  One bird was observed postioning or 
repositioning a stick in the side of the nest.
     I would like to suggest to any of our local photographers with 
appropriate equipment that now would be a good time to record this phenomenon 
before 
the leaves grow any bigger.  A good overall but distant view is from the Fort 
Henry Lake Overlook.  The closest but partially obscured view I know is from 
the 
maintenance shed on the road below the highway.
     I saw no Black-crowned Night-Herons perched below Fort Henry Dam, but 
one juvenile flew upstream, over the dam, and around the bend towards Warrior's 
Path State Park.
     At the Kingsport Greenbelt at the end of American Way, I counted about 
30 Rusty Blackbirds feeding with some female Red-winged Blackbirds, Cardinals, 
Mourning Doves, etc. on the last pavement by the trail entrance.  I checked 
closely for Brewer's, but every dark-eyed female individual turned yellow-eyed 
with a different angle of light.  
     An active accipter nest can be seen from this entrance to the trail.  
Look for the two houses at the top of the hill ahead of you as you walk towards 
the cable-gate.  The house on the right is white.  The tallest tree is near 
the left corner of the rightmost house.  The nest is near the center-top of the 
tree.  I saw an accipter bring food to the nest, small and with red tints.  I 
couldn't see anything in the nest, or decide on the species.  It seemed large, 
but its flight rhythm seemed fast.  If somebody gets a good look, please let 
me know what you think it is.
     Turning right when I intersected the trail, the first Yellow-crowned 
Night Heron nest I came to is near the first park bench.  I ended up seeing six 
pairs of Yellow-crowned Night Herons, all but the first pair apparently in the 
early stages of nest building.  Five pairs were seen between the park bench 
and the Red-shouldered Hawk nest ( I saw one Red-shouldered Hawk in the woods, 
and another on the nest).  A sixth pair of Yellow-crowned Night-Herons was 
building a nest  further along the trail, between the Red-shouldered Hawk nest 
and 
the wooden boardwalk.  None of the Night-heron nests were underneath or too 
near to the hawk nest.  I didn't think to pace off the distance, but the zone 
free of heron-nests was roughly delineated by an equilateral triangle with the 
creek as its base and top of the Red-shouldered Hawk's nest-tree at its apex.  
I think all the night-heron nests were in Sycamore trees.
     The Yellow-crowned Night-Herons' behavior was most interesting.  The 
only way I could determine gender was by the assumption that the individual 
that 
gathered sticks and brought them to the nest site was male, and the individual 
remaining by the nest was female.  An individual I later determined to be 
male was observed displaying to an assumed female.  He approached closely in 
front of her and raised his crest.  The yellow of his forehead grew very puffy, 
and the long white head-plume that normally lay on his back stood up high over 
his head, even recurving forward some.  He fluffed up all over, and, shaking 
his head quickly side to side, with his bill rapidly opening and closing in a 
nibbling fashion, he bowed forward, lightly caressing the female's breast 
feathers with his bill as he bowed.  She responded with a similar motion, but 
less 
body fluffing, less depth to the bow, and no bill contact .  Similar displays 
were repeated, with the male making bill contact with the female on the head 
and back.  Then the male began making minute adjustments to the sticks that 
were 
already placed on the tree limb at their feet.  In a minute the female also 
began adjusting the sticks.  Then the male flew off  several yards and procured 
another stick.  I couldn't see if he broke it off, or if it was already 
broken and lay tangled in the other branches, but there was no obvious 
difficulty 
in getting it.  The stick was no more than pencil thick at base, with few and 
short branches, about two feet long.  On his return to the nest, he landed on a 
different limb that was occupied by a third Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.  The 
third bird reacted with a body posture and a walking approach along the limb 
that sent the first bird flying back to his own nest.  I noticed the third bird 
had a partner and nest-start on another nearby limb.  The first pair 
continued with occasional displays and stick placement.
     Other interesting behavior was the flight of several of the 
Yellow-crowned Night-Herons to the ground in the trees where there was only a 
little low 
undergrowth due to the dense shade of the relatively young but thick canopy.  I 
assumed they were feeding, as they are known to feed heavily on crustaceans 
(their thick bills are adapted to such crunchy critters), and I knew that 
particular habitat should be full of burrowing crawdads that do not live in the 
creek but in the moist floodplains nearby.  If you are ever lucky enough to see 
one, the species of burrowing crawdad we have here is mostly blue, with orange 
highlights.  They come out of their burrows at night and on cloudy days to 
feed in the low vegetation or dead leaves.  I believe that management of 
habitat 
for Yellow-crowned Night-Heron nesting should include an awareness of the 
needs of this particular food item.
     One of the most amazing things about this phenomenon at the Kingsport 
Greenbelt is the constant traffic of people walking, jogging and cycling within 
scant yards of these birds.  I was also amazed to see a pair of Wood Ducks 
calmly swimming in plain sight not ten yards away, so unlike all my other 
encounters with the species.  I definitely intend to return there for more 
observations.  I also enjoyed several people who were fascinated by these 
birds.  I 
invited those I talked with to check out any of the local bird clubs.  One 
couple 
told me they had seen the Yellow-crowned Night-Herons there at least two years 
ago.  They also told me that there was a Green Heron further along the trail, 
but I never made it that far.  I did, however see a Great Blue Heron near the 
last night-heron nest just before the boardwalk.  It seemed unconcerned with 
human proximity across the creek.
     I next went to check out the Yellow-crowned nest site discovered last 
year by Marion Finucane at the Ravine Road dead end on the Greenbelt.  I saw no 
signs of Night-Herons there, but it was getting dark, so I will try again 
later.  I did however, see my first House Wren of the season there.  I also got 
to 
witness a Northern Flicker evicting a European Starling from a tree cavity.

Don Holt
Johnson City, TN
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