[Bristol-Birds] Re: Bristol CBC Brown-headed Nuthatch and enormous contribution !

Wallace,
I am thinking I saw a Brown-headed  Nuthatch flying back and forth to a nest.  
However, the nesting place was behind a piece of the bark of a tree sticking 
out from the tree.  Too,. this must have been a Pygmy Nuthatch for it was in 
one of the impressive evergreen mountain national parks in California.  It 
looks like the Brown-headed. ( I just looked it up.)
What kind of nest does the Brown-headed Nuthatch have?
Tess Cumbie
Buladean, NC

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Wallace Coffey 
  To: Bristol-birds 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 1:33 AM
  Subject: [Bristol-Birds] Bristol CBC Brown-headed Nuthatch and enormous 
contribution !


  Possibly the most significant find of any species during the region's 
  Christmas Bird Counts, which date back to the first nearly 80 years
  ago, was the Brown-headed Nuthatch heard by Rick Knight and
  Ellen Park at Washington County Park on South Holston Lake this
  past December.

  Taking part in the Bristol CBC, the birders may have made an enormous 
  contribution to conservation -- the very thing these Audubon counts 
  seek to accomplish. 

  Volunteers are crucial to the success of programs that monitor the 
  long-term status of populations of Brown-headed Nuthatch and other
  bird species. Audubon's Christmas Bird Count is one of the 
  longest-running citizen-science monitoring programs in the world and 
  has helped to follow changes in the numbers and distribution of the 
  Brown-headed Nuthatch.

  The Brown-headed Nuthatch is a "Bird of Conservation Concern" to the
  national Partners In Flight (PIF) effort.  Little is known about many aspects 
of
  its life history including its distribution and how it survives and extends 
its 
  range.

  Here is what we can imply and should seek to understand about the species.
  in the Virginia highlands as well as the Ridge and Valley Region of this 
  upper Tennessee River drainage which flows south.

  The Brown-headed has been located
  in a mature stand of what appears to
  be Shortleaf Pine.  The trees are
  approximately 45 to maybe 50 years
  of age.  The stand is about a 100
  yards in length and maybe 30 yards
  wide -- standing in the open along 
  the shoreline of the lake.  The 
  understory is open and park like.

  This stand seems to be a small
  conservation-type plantation which
  was not present in the early 1960s.
  It was detectable in air photos by
  1970.  The elevation is about 1740
  feet.  It stands on a well-drained
  slope of somewhat southern exposure.

  The Shortleaf Pine occurs up to about 3,000 ft. and the Brown-headed
  Nuthatch up to about 2500 ft. in the Southern Appalachians.

  This pine commonly grows in even-aged stands such as found at this
  South Holston Lake site.

  This combination of mature Shortleaf Pine with open understory is
  probably rare in our region but we don't yet know that.  We must better
  understand the possibilities of such habitat distribution.

  The bird is a species almost exclusively associated with stands of 
  mature pines. The Brown-headed Nuthatch lives year-round in the 
  southeastern United States. Very little post-breeding movements 
  have been documented for this species, which often remains on 
  territory throughout its life. Loss of habitat due to logging, forest 
  fragmentation, and fire suppression threaten the species.

  Does this suggest that the Washington County Park bird is a wayward
  straggler or accidental greatly displaced from any nearby breeding
  population ?  Or does it open the window to the possibility that several
  breeding populations are in the region and have been under our radar?

  We do not yet know how many Brown-headed are present at the park.
  Has there been a pair nesting here for a decade or so ?  This is a species
  that is very easy to detect during the breeding season but this park is
  not the kind of place any of us frequent during breeding season.  The
  breeding season for this nuthatch begins now.  Are we to expect that
  this bird is wintering on this site and will quickly move away ?  The
  conventional understanding of the species says no.  In fact, we should
  move forward with the hypothesis that it nests at the park with possibly
  more than one pair and that it is part of a small but not detected breeding
  population.  That should be our top-of-mind awareness.  It would be
  too bad if birders say tic that one and let's go looking for other species
  that draw ooohs and ahhs among our peers.

  Numbers are declining throughout its range. Breeding Bird Surveys in 
  southeastern North America from 1966 through 2001, show a statistically 
  significant annual population decline of 2.2 percent. Since this bird makes 
  limited movements away from its breeding grounds,  forest fragmentation 
  is harmful. Birds aren't re-colonizing where suitable habitat has once again 
  become available. 

  Information on where Brown-headed Nuthatches occur and in what numbers 
  is vital to conserving the species.  Washington County Park offers us a
  tremendous opportunity to contribute to the understanding of this species
  in the Upper Holston Watershed and its range in both Virginia and Tennessee.

  Let's go birding . . . 

  Wallace Coffey
  Bristol, TN

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