I thought I would recheck on the Brown-headed Nuthatches and what is happening
with the three pine areas so I returned to London yesterday. I found them in
all three locations. The pair was still active at the nest at the 2nd USFS
area, and I checked what pines were cut there. The story I was told about
making room for parking doesn't completely hold water as they cut two big pines
in the very center of the pine woods, which leaves a big open area in the
middle that one can now see from a block away, where formally it looked like a
pretty solid stand. There were also a lot of small deciduous trees and shrubs
that had previously made this area quite difficult to walk through, you can see
how clear it is now. One of the pines cut was only a few pines over from the
nest tree so just lucky that one was not cut. There is no possible explanation
I can think of for them cutting these trees right in the middle of the pine
grove. I only saw the one pair there this time, instead of the two or three
pairs I had no trouble finding on April 16 before the tree cutting. I am now
thinking I was lucky to get there that last trip, and contact the proper
authorities, as I am now wondering if they were really planning to keep cutting
more if I had not done so.
Also I heard the Brown-headed Nuthatches at the Ranger Station near the
traditional nest snag, and checked on the Red-shouldered Hawk nest with at
least one young which still has long to go before it will leave the nest . I
found a pair of House Wrens nesting in a very similar dead broken off pine
branch cavity to the one the Brown-headed Nuthatches were nesting in at the 2nd
USFS area, interestingly. One has to consider all of these birds including
Summer Tanagers, Pine Warblers, Red-headed Woodpeckers and many more species
will be losing their pine and oak homes so they can build a new Ranger Station
when there is a huge field aea with collapsing abandoned barn right next door
that could have been purchased for that purpose. Also on the question of
cutting trees for vehicle safety there is a dead Ash Tree that has been dead
for some years overhanging where they park vehicles at the Ranger Station and
they haven't cut that one yet, but did so to all those healthy pines at the
other location for when they park the very same vehicles there. On the road
question the road that is so vital to make a better connection for has so
little traffic on it now, you have to pull up to the intersection to actuate
the signal. You would think if it was that important to destroy this pine woods
over it would have a regular cycle to it. You can see the pine woods stretching
up into the sky from a mile away by the way, as there is very little wooded
area of any type in this section of town.
On a brighter note I was especially glad to be able to photograph a
Brown-headed Nuthatch at the State of Kentucky property, in a very large
Shortleaf Pine they had been nesting in a few years ago. Although the old nest
snag branch is pretty much done for ( I had photographed them digging out the
cavity there originally), there are quite a few more on this one and other
large Shortleaf next to it so I suspect they are nesting in one of them. I did
recheck a few other locations with good habitat just in case but no sign of
Brown-headed Nuthatches in those as yet.
Frank Renfrow Fort Thomas frankrenfrow@xxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Renfrow <frankrenfrow@xxxxxxx>
To: birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tue, May 9, 2023 7:05 pm
Subject: Brown-headed Nuthatch update at Laurel County
I am not sure if I posted here that there were quite a few pine trees cut on
May 5 at the second USFS location where the Brown-headed Nuthatches are
currently nesting (there is still an active nest luckily on the far side of
that pine area where the cutting occurred. However, unfortunately there is a
good chance one or even possibly two additional nests were destroyed in the
tree removal process. I was watching them in those very trees on my April 16
visit there and there was an indication they were nesting in a dead limb snag
or possibly there were even two different pairs nesting in those trees. The
excuse for cutting the trees was to make more room to park USFS vehicles after
they can no longer park at the Ranger Station on June 3 according to the USFS
person I talked to about the tree cutting which makes this doubly tragic. This
made me very concerned they were about to start cutting the Ranger Station
pines then as it was also supposed to be understood this second area was not to
be cut due to their presence there especially not during the nesting season! .
Well a bit of a short and tenuous reprieve for the Brown-headed Nuthatches at
the London Ranger Station. I have not heard back on this new situation as yet
from my contact at the USFS but my new contact at KY Fish & Wildlife did get
back with me promptly after checking into things. He has communicated with the
USFS contact himself and was assured by him there will be no more cutting at
the USFS location where they cut so many trees on May 5. I hope this promise
will be remembered in future but I had been told this previously as well. Sad
though they may have well wiped out one or two active nests which could have
comprised a large percentage of the entire known Kentucky population of this
species. He also added that KY Fish & Wildlife was assured there will be no
tree cutting at the Ranger Station there until the nesting season is over. This
will hopefully give us more time to organize to stop the cutting of the London
Ranger Station Pines. Restoring Shortleaf Pine habitat in Kentucky is supposed
to be a top priority for both Kentucky Fish & Wildlife and the USFS,
ironically.
I did advise in reply that several species breeding at the Ranger Station,
including sometimes the Brown-headed Nuthatches, can be double brooders. I gave
the example that there was still a double brood nestling Red-headed Woodpecker
in the nest on August 30 last year in my home county of Campbell. Thus I
suggested any cutting needs to be held off until late September at earliest and
hopefully we can fight this unfortunate plan and see the cutting does not
happen at all. I am seeing more and more that this is a matter of the USFS
sacrificing one of the best Shortleaf Pine groves in Kentucky so that they can
build a new Ranger Station there. I think the Kentucky State Highway road issue
is sort of an excuse for doing that as it alone may not have taken out nearly
as many trees. They could have easily bought the large amount of acreage now
mainly in grass right next door which has been for sale to put the new Ranger
Station and the new road through. I have let KY Fish & Wildlife know also that
all cutting should cease at the third location which is owned by the State of
Kentucky as well for the sake of the Brown-headed Nuthatches. In 2021 they cut
down the previous year's nest tree there as well as a lot of good potential
trees for them to nest in. That was during the breeding season as well. There
seems to be a disconnect on the Migratory Bird Act, and cutting trees where
birds are nesting while they are nesting with many of our Government Agencies
that should be the ones overseeing that very protection. Sad. A better spot for
the Ranger Station itself all around I think would be somewhere farther away
from all the traffic congestion in London and closer to many of the large
London District USFS areas in the DBNF. The traffic congestion in London is one
reason a new Ranger Station still at that spot may still not get many visitors,
at least I avoided stopping there very often when on my way through due to
being so far from a large natural part of the district. The best option would
be for the Shortleaf Pine Grove to just be left as a public park or nature
preserve. That is my take at least.
Frank RenfrowFort Thomas. KYfrankrenfrow@xxxxxxx
