An ALDER FLYCATCHER with an apparent mate was discovered today (12 June) at
the Highlands Dairy Farm in Washington County, VA by Ron Harrington and
Wallace Coffey. The birds were conspicuous as they fed about tall
vegetation of a large farm pond. The male sang frequently. Observation was
at close range and for extended periods.
The farm pond is on a hill at 2000 feet elevation and is quite likely the
lowest elevation record ever for the species during breeding season in the
upper Tennessee River drainage of Southwest Virginia and Northeast
Tennessee. The pond is about 200 feet X 150 feet in size. It is located
about one mile south of I-81, Exit 32, on the North Fork of the Holston
River.
The nearby fields were full of singing HORNED LARKS (4 easily seen at close
range) and many singing SAVANNAH SPARROWS (six seen at close range). We did
not make a concerted effort to count these but it would be safe to suggest
that maybe a dozen or more Savannahs and perhaps more Horned Larks were
singing in the vast agriculture fields known to many area birders as "Sonny
Johnson's farm."
The birds were found as part of annual June habitat scouting efforts made by
Coffey and Harrington each summer to infrequently birded areas of our
region. This was the fourth scouting trip for 2006. Two more are scheduled
this week. The effort is normally made with three days of scouting in the
earlier part of the summer season and three near mid June.
Harrington and Coffey participate in the annual Cornell University/U.S.
Forest Service sponsored Birds in Forested Landscape survey and the birders
take advantage of the same days for scouting.
Let's go birding..
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
