[Bristol-Birds] BRANT ! Don't let me get your hopes up.
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2013 23:01:39 -0500
Washington Co., VA
Spring Lake Estates
15 Feb 2013
I know some of you don't want to hear this but the BRANT is headed
towards Tennessee.
Yep! It has moved three (3) miles south of Clear Creek Lake here
in Washington County, Va. Two more miles and it will be at Middlebrook
Lake. Oh, boy.
The BRANT was hanging out this afternoon at Spring Lake Pond south
of I-81 and west of Exit 7.
As far as we know, it stayed 14 consecutive weeks at Clear Creek,
since it was first found there on 13 Nov 2012. It was there for the Bristol
Christmas Bird Count.
Some of the birders have said they wished it would show up in
Tennessee. We may just get that wish.
In the early 1990s, the Bristol Bird Club did a multi-year study of
Canada Geese in the region which were wearing large, numbered,
neck collars. The club kept a database of hundreds of such birds
and their numbers being seen by area birders at various places
and various times.
What we learned was that geese regularly traveled between
Clear Creek Lake and Middlebrook Lake. This is no "Johnny
come lately" sort of thinking. It is real knowledge. It is a distinct
possibility.
In Nov 2002, Bert Hale discovered a Ross's Goose-type bird
grazing in a field 4.6 miles southwest of Middlebrook. That
was the first time the bird had been located feeding away from the
shoreline of Middlebrook.
It was a Ross's X Lesser Snow Goose hybrid.
Bert found it feeding in the vicinity of the Lutheran Church,
located on Weaver Pike at the intersections of Bullock's
Hollow Road and Grandor Road. I joined him and also saw it.
So, now, the Canada Geese at Clear Creek have largely moved away
from that impoundment and begun to scatter. Nesting season is
approaching.
The BRANT is drifting around with a group of them.
Just two more miles. Just a couple of more. That group can
fly the route to Middlebrook in 10 minutes.
Who will be standing there grinning from ear to ear
like a Potter ? I hope one of us will. Stay off your cell phones
and keep the battery charged. You might get another call.
You may get another species for your annual five-county Northeast
Tennessee annual list. Who knows ?
Go BRANT! Go! Uh....fly BRANT! Fly!
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
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- » [Bristol-Birds] BRANT ! Don't let me get your hopes up. - Wallace Coffey