[Bristol-Birds] has another Corvid moved to town ?

A Common Raven perched
atop a utility pole on the
Volunteer Parkway in Bristol
Tennessee this morning 
(3 Dec) may yet point to 
another sign of the urbanization 
of the species.

We've seen the raven send
us many subtle signals
over three decades.  Few
experienced birders are
surprised to see its great dark
form passing during winter
with rowing wing beats in much 
of the Ridge and Valley Region 
of Northeast Tennessee.

Birds in the region during late
winter as the March breeding
season approaches, always create much curiosity and speculation 
as it continues to expand its nesting range.

New and younger birders, not privileged to such experiences, 
probably taken the ravens as a long time permanent  and historical
part of the avian landscape in most areas.

Never, in my 50 years of birding, have I seen a Common Raven
perched on a utility pole, power line, road sign and such.  They
probably alight on barns in rural areas.  Rick Phillips and I have
found them perched on the abandoned structures and buildings
remaining from TVA's abandoned nuclear power plant construction
at Phipps Bend in Hawkins Co.  We believe, due to the date and
reactions with probably mates, that they nest in the big, almost
concrete bunker buildings which are little different from a cliff --
the bird's traditional nesting sites in our mountains.  In other
states the raven has nested on towers along electrical
transmission lines and similar sites. 

Phillips found a bird near the parking lot of Wal-Mart in Kingsport
a few years ago and photographed it.  That, alone, was a sign
of more urbanization.

The bird I saw today was just across busy US 11E from
Bristol Motor Speedway near the road adjacent to the 
Raceday condos which were recently constructed.

Ravens have not been frequently seen that close
and that kind of traffic, shopping areas, parking lots and
the busy and noisy sites of city living in our area.  It closely
parallels the urban adjustments we've seen for Ring-billed Gulls
and American Crows.  Ring-bills have, in the past several
decades, migrated to our more urban areas from further north
and immediately are comfortable perching on McDonald's 
arches, utility poles and walking among cars at fast foods
and shopping centers looking for food items.  Crows were
little known in the downtown areas of Bristol and in the city
in most places as I first began birding.  They now nest in tall
white pines in downtown parking lots of businesses and roost 
by the thousands near the heart of the city.  

Such urban familiarity and occupancy can, however, be seen
in Red-tailed Hawks, Pileated Woodpeckers, Cooper's Hawk,
Great Horned Owls, Yellow-crowned Night Herons and many
more.  

The Tri-Cities metro area is growing deeper into urban and
suburban sprawl.  With a population of about half a million
people and cities and towns spreading, the area is approaching a 
population near the size of Baltimore but not as dense. 

I recall when Richard Lewis and others found a raven or two
near Darter's Store on US 421 in Sullivan County during the
"count week" of the 1978 Christmas Bird Count.  Five years
later the species was found on the Bristol CBC and it has
now shown up 21 of the past 25 years.  It is definitely 
documented in the Ridge and Valley of this count during
winter.

In recent years it has been found nesting since 1994 in
Carter, Unicoi, Johnson and Sullivan.  The first low-elevation
nest was found by Coffey and Larry McDaniel in 1994 at the
quarry in Watauga near Johnson City.

Just as crows have become as "common as robins" :-) 
another Corvid may soon join them along most of the routes
we frequent in our daily lives.  

Don't be surprised if you see one in your yard or near your
feeder.  Nesting on downtown building ledges ???  Quote 
the raven, nevermore.

Let's go birding. . . .

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN

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