[Bristol-Birds] Sullivan County herons et al
- From: Dnldhlt@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 13:53:48 EDT
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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