[TN-Bird] Rankin communities & colonies


Friday evening, 5/21, we put in our canoe at the Rankin Bridge boat launch to 
survey the the area a mile or so northward.  The water here has become Douglas 
Lake, rather than French Broad River; recent rains have brought the lake close 
to summer pool level.  

Under the Rankin Bridge, we saw 550 CLIFF SWALLOW mud nests.  Last year, there 
were fewer than 400 nests.  Just downstream, atop the old Rankin Bridge, there 
were 2 OSPREY  nestlings with their parents. About 200 yards farther down, 
another osprey pair were tending a nest on the west bank. Hearing an oriole 
song, we paddled behind the osprey nest and found the rest of an unusual mixed 
community of nesting species.

A pair of REDHEADED WOODPECKERS, uncommon in this county, were active around a 
hole above 50' up in a dead cottonwood.  A female PILEATED WOODPECKER, called  
and peered from a lower hole in adjacent cottonwood.  Nearby, a pair of GREAT 
BLUE HERONS stood at a woody tangle that held 2 nestlings.  A couple of trees 
over, a lone DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT sat on small platform of sticks.  A pair 
of BALTIMORE ORIOLES sang and flew about overhead in the leafy treetops.  We 
weren't able to make out an oriole nest in the canopy.  Several CAROLINA 
CHICKADEE fledglings scampered through the shrubs where a BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER 
searched for bugs.     

We paddled on along the east bank, around a D-C CORMORANT rookery with 4 active 
nests and about 75 individuals, belching like a bunch of well-fed frat boys.

We crossed the river and entered the shallow pond about a mile downstream from 
the bridge.  As we entered, 60 or so WOOD DUCKS flew off, and a lesser numbers 
of MALLARDS  and CANADA GEESE soon followed.  We heard or saw about a dozen 
female woodies go into the broken-wing routine, and saw a few groups of 
ducklings paddle away in a panic.  We might not have observed any of them if 
they had stayed in cover.

We also counted 8 BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS, our first of the season, during 
the float.  We also saw 20+ EASTERN KINGBIRDS throughout the area. 

Michael Sledjeski & Leslie Gibbens
Cocke County TN
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