Many of the Red-headed Woodpeckers recorded on past Norris CBCs have been
in Norris Dam State Park. A couple other good spots in the area are
Anderson County Park and Loyston Point recreation area. At Anderson County
Park, look for them along the paved trail that runs parallel to the west
side of the peninsula between the boat ramp and the campground. At Loyston
look for them in the oaks along the shoreline just northeast of the big
boat ramp parking lot.
The numbers of Red-headed Woodpeckers present during the winter, at least
in East Tennessee, vary from year to year with the size of the acorn crop.
The acorn crop in the valley is quite good this year. The acorn crop on at
least the northern portion of the Cumberland Plateau failed this year and
is pretty much non-existent.
Chuck Nicholson
Norris, TN
On Fri, Dec 14, 2018 at 8:55 AM richard connors <didymops07@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Nice find, Shane! Nice group of birds.
It might be worth noting that TN State Parks can be especially good for
this sometimes hard-to-find species. Montgomery Bell S. P. in Dickson, and
Paris Landing State Park come to mind as being reliable sites for
Red-headed Woodpecker. Open, "park-like" situation with mature oak trees,
often near water, and with standing dead timber or at least dead limbs for
nesting, seems to be ideal habitat. You'd think you would find RHWO in most
any Tennessee oak woods, but that's not always the case.
Richard Connors
Nashville
On Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 8:23 PM shanehwilliams <shanehwilliams@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
This afternoon, 12/13, Stan Wallace and I saw 12 or more Red-headed
woodpeckers at Norris Dam State Park (East Campground) in Anderson County.
This is on the east side of the top of the dam. We parked and walked around
the loop road with the rental cabins and saw 5 here. Then we walked down
the road to the right that leads to the East Campground and had a couple
more at the end of this short road. Then in the woods to the right of the
camping spots with picnic tables we saw 5 or more. It was hard to keep
track but it seemed like every time I saw movement it ended up being a
Red-headed. Some were full adults and some were first winter birds with
some grayish-brown mixed with red on their heads/necks, dark bars on the
white wing patches, and gray smudges on the underparts. Many were
vocalizing with short, repeated rattles. I have seen multiples of this
species here and on the western side of the park in years past.
Shane Williams
Knoxville, TN
Sent from my Virgin Mobile Phone.
