(Above) Starting at fullpool on Mon, 16 Aug 2010, the Paddle Creek Pond was pulled to begin to expose this much mudflat in 24 hrs. by Tuesday, 17 Aug, at noon. This was an intentional drawdown for our attempt at shorebird habitat management at Paddle Creek Pond. (Above) The rainfall of 18 Aug 2010 raised the level about 2 inches which was surface runoff. Notice the plants at the top left are back in the water and they were out in the 17 Aug photo. (Above) an early morning rainfall of just over one inch, which fell in the area about 4 a.m. Sunday, raised the Paddle Creek level back to full pool. The difference in the top level and bottom level is that the pond gained about 4 inches of water level since it was lowered last Monday and Tuesday. With waterlevel management for shorebirds / waders, it is apparent that we only need about 8 inches of drawdown to good habitat. This is probably doable in just three days but more rain is predicted by Wednesday. Wet mudflats are highly desirable at this location and probably so at other such habitats. So fluctuation is our friend. When we draw down to extensively expose the mudflats, excellent habitat is produced if timed with migration dates and migration weather. If the mudflats begin to dry, they will not draw stopover from shorebird migrants. But we will refill and then draw the pond down to again expose mudflats and see how long we can sustain the proper nutrients, animals and such. Can we keep the desirable food that shorebirds are finding there or does the drying out destroy that resource for the remainder of the season? Paddle Creek is a small project. It is good for a steady stream of a few good birds each season but the numbers of shorebirds and waterbirds will probably never be large. It is a convent place to check in a and hour or so. We are face with a somewhat similar shorebird habitat issue at Musick's Campground on South Holston Lake but we do not control any aspect of what happens: Notice the slight up turn of the red line on the graph. The red line indicates the changing water levels at South Holston until this hour. The little up turn represents almost a foot of lake level increase. The pond just to the left of the driveway leading to the outer viewing area went dry about a week ago. Then water came back in with rainfall. The lake level dropped and it dried again. After the early Sunday morning rainfall, it has water once again. But this change in the pond is producing nothing for the birdlife. A few shorebirds and egrets are in and around this area of Musick's Campground but none of them are using the pond. The first drop in water level and drying of that pond, wiped out any small fish and other animal life and the pond is no longer a food source for the birds. The water for this pond is seeping in underground from the rising lake level and surface runoff from rain. This produces no food. We'll keep and eye on this to see if this is correct. The small pond at the upper end of the outer banks at Musick's has been covered again with water. However, whatever small fish and such getting trapped there could possible be replenished by the rising and falling of the lake level. It has not attracted much birdlife and that suggest it was without much food on the first drawdown. In the big picture, a sudden rise at Musick's from the heavy rains can just delay the eventual drying out of this area and cause the attractive life of the shoreline to extend well into September or later. We'll learn more as the season progresses. We have nearly eight weeks of tropical storm season left in the south Atlantic and about the same amount of shorebird migration. So the season may just be getting underway at Musick's with some good birding ahead. Let's go birding . . . . Wallace Coffey Bristol, TN