[TN-Bird] Re: more Carter Co. sapsuckers (with background)
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 23:28:53 -0400
TN-Birders:
Don Holt's discover of an active nest of the Appalachian Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker in Carter Co., TN and then, a few days later, finding young out of
the nest at another location, not far away with the help of Tom McNeil, are
significant discoveries for Tennessee ornithology.
To the best of my knowledge, it may have been nearly 30 to 50 years since
an active nest cavity has been found in Tennessee. If anyone knows of
anything more recent, please let me know. Dr. Fred Alsop provided
information in 1980 that the bird had nested in Unicoi County in Northeast
Tennessee. I do not have a copy of that report published with Bob Hatcher,
I think, by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. The year 1980 was the
publication date but I am not sure it is close to the actual date of the
nest in Unicoi County. Several nest of these rare breeding season
woodpeckers have been found in the state during the past century but most
reports came in the early half of 20th century.
Even the discovery of fledged young has been seldom reported.
Rick Knight reported an adult Yellow-bellied Sapsucker with 2 recently
fledged young, 3 July 2001 Stone Mtn., near Vaught Gap, in southern Johnson
Co.
He saw a second pair in the same area. Kinight reported that sighting
represented the first confirmed breeding in northeast Tenn. In fact, he
wrote, there are only 4 previous summer records going back to 1895.
Now Don Holt has added two more summer records which are also two breeding
records, nearly three years later.
One of TOS's five founders, Albert F. Ganier of Nashville, described a new
subspecies of the sapsucker in THE MIGRANT in 1954. The typce specimen came
from the Unicoi Mountains of Monroe County, TN. He called it the
Appalachian Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. We hope that soon-to-be-conducted DNA
studies will shed more light on this unique southern population.
A group of scientists and resource managers from North Carolina, Tennessee,
and Virginia have been evaluating the conservation status of the Appalachian
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in cooperation with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service. Among those involved in this ad hoc working group from Tennessee
are Joe McGuiness, US Forest Service, Chuck Nicholson, Tennessee Valley
Authority, Wallace Coffey - Tennessee Partners In Flight, Chair, Southern
Blue Ridge, Keith Langdon - NPS Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Don
Holt attended last fall's committee meeting and has conducted field
searches. David Vogt has joined in field searching this breeding season.
You may read more about the sapsucker taskforce work and see a distribution
map at : http://biology.mhc.edu/ybsa/
Let's go birding....
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
----- Original Message -----
From: <Dnldhlt@xxxxxxx>
To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2004 8:02 PM
Subject: [TN-Bird] more Carter Co. sapsuckers
> SAT 26 JUN 2004
> Chestnut Ridge, Cherokee Natl. Forest, Carter Co., TN
> D. Holt
>
> Behind Ripshin Lake on Chestnut Ridge, on the closed Forest Service road
> beyond Peters Cemetary, Tom McNeil and I found an adult pair of
Yellow-bellied
> Sapsuckers feeding two fleglings. There was a large dead tree with
> sapsucker-sized holes nearby, but we didn't see or hear any activities
there. The adults
> were foraging on insects on the lichen-covered tree trunks. The
fledglings
> were not yet adept at flight, or even at climbing. They were remarkably
well
> camoflaged on the lichen encrusted trunks, but their calls and movements
made
> them easy to find.
>
> The location co-ordinates were N 36 09.656, W 82 08.426. The elevation
was
> 3930 ft. The dominant trees seemed to be Sugar Maple and American Beech.
> Associated trees included Yellow Buckeye, Basswood, Tuliptree. The
understory
> density was moderate, the shrub layer and herb layer fairly light, leaving
some
> leaf litter visible on the forest floor. There was very little in the way
of
> evergreen cover. Overall the structure was somewhat open but patchy. The
> location was at a bend in the logging road that made a gap in the canopy
about 50
> ft. wide. The slope was facing roughly east, and somewhat steep. Other
bird
> species present were Blue Jay, Veery, Red-eyed Vireo, Black-throated Blue
> Warbler, Hooded Warbler, and Dark-eyed Junco.
>
> On our way back, we stopped at the sapsucker nest-site at the edge of
Ripshin
> Lake. We stayed only long enough to confirm that the young were still on
the
> nest and being fed by both parents.
>
> Don Holt
> Johnson City, TN
> *************************************************
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