[Bristol-Birds] Bald Eagle nest towers over South Holston Lake

From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:44:13 -0500
The first Bald Eagle's
nest in the Tennessee
River drainage of
Southwest Virginia is
a sight to behold.  It is
in Washington County
on South Holston Lake
and towers high
above the shoreline as
a majestic tribute to
restore its breeding 
population in the region.

 The nest appears to be in a White Pine tree and is about
 650 feet above the lake level at this date.  The nest elevation
 is  2,120 ft. and is on the gentle slope against the skyline of a
 very steep ridge.  It has a north aspect.

 It is more enormous than this digiscope photo reveals. 
 This is a huge nest that is unmistakable.

 Wildlife Biologist Bill Bassinger of Marion, VA, with the Virginia
 Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF), made the
 initial investigation.  The nest was first reported to the birding
 public by birder Bob Riggs of the VDGIF on 28 Feb.

 Riggs reported that an eagle had been seen on the nest. 

 The nest is on "investment" property owned by Washington
 County Partners LLC of Asheville, NC who purchased the
 tract last 13 May from Olin Wooten of Georgia.  The 
 nest is in a forest stand of about 1879 acres.  The cove the
 nest is above is known locally as "Browns Bottom" and was
 sold to Wooten by Jane Brown of Washington County.  It 
 was land she received from her father, David K. Brown.  It
 is believed to have been in the Brown family since the late 
 1800s.
  
The red X in
the bottom
right of this
map is the
nest location.
Avens Bridge
is located in the upper left corner of the map.  The map is
aligned with north being up.  The nest is near river mile 67.5
and about 1.8 miles upstream from Avens Bridge. The 
nearest point to the Tennessee stateline is about 2.25 miles
to a corner near the Offset Community of Sullivan County.

 The nest structure will no doubt be a wildlife attraction to the
 many boaters at South Holston as the warm season brings
 out more crafts and weekend users.  The lake stage is much
 higher than last year and marina owners expect a great year.
 The nest is very conspicuous to fishermen and probably
 to residents living across the lake.
 
 Despite its visibility, it is virtually unknown to most people in
 the area and many fishermen.  I began the hunt for the nest
 in late February and easily logged 200 miles of driving and
 probably 50 interviews with everyone imaginable.  I spent
 days along the accessible shoreline where I could drive.

 My focus to search in the area upstream from the Bristol
 Virginia water intake came from Tom Horsch, member of the
 Bristol Birds Net, who reported seeing an eagle 4 March as 
 he was headed to Abingdon on US 58 and saw
 "a beautiful Bald Eagle flying down stream along the Middle
 fork. . .  watched him as he flew down river and out of sight. 
 His full white head, yellow beak and white tail were quite 
 spectacular and unmistakable! What a beautiful bird!"

 The VDGIF was vague and it has taken weeks to get specific
 help and exact directions.  Information became forthcoming
 and more assistance developed with encouragement from 
 the Richmond office.

 A major lead to the nest site came from a VDGIF fisheries
 crew which was sampling Walleye at South Holston.  They
 were encountered at the Washington County Park boat 
 ramp around 11 a.m. today.  They had not seen the nest
 but knew about it.  They gave me general directions as 
 best they could.  I left my birding business card with the
 crew.

 Within the next hour, while doing interviews at a country
 store, two construction workers told me how to get into the
 vicinity of the nest area and who a property owner was that had
 land nearby.  The gentleman lives in Kingsport.  His name
 is Allen Poole and he has a lake house on an obscure road
 behind a locked gate.  Carolyn and I drove to the location
 just to case it out.  To our surprise, Poole was arriving
 from Kingsport and unlocking his gate.  We explained what
 we were doing and he invited us to follow him back into his
 very extensive land holdings across the lake from the
 Bristol Virginia water intake and the VDGIF Avens Bridge
 boat ramp.
 

 
 










Allen Poole stands in this photo with the nest ridge
in the background.  He was an amazing person who
provided enormous help -- not the least of which was
inviting my wife to sit in his gorgeous den with a
window overlooking the lake.  Allen has seen the
eagles coming and going but did not know of a nest.

Shortly after noon, the VDGIF fish sampling crew was
in the area and, according to them, they made a swing
past the nesting vicinity and James Hayes from the
Marion Fish Culture Station spotted the nest.  The
crew tried a couple of times to call my cell number.

By 12:30 p.m. I had called them back.  The call was

answered by 
Fisheries Biologist
George Palmer. 
(at left).  He
offered to take me
and show me the 
nest if I was not too
far away.  We then
discovered we were
actually in sight of
one another and we
waved.  George and
his crew brought the state fisheries boat across the 
lake and I boarded from land owned by Allen Poole.  
Carolyn leisurely waited on the couch in his living 
room and enjoyed herself.

While Palmer stayed on shore so I could have a life jacket,
the two fisheries technicians and I traveled about .75 mile
southwest to the eagle cove.  They pointed out the nest
with great joy
and much pride.

Fisheries Technician
Clifford Kirk (left)
tried to hold the boat
steady in the breeze
while James Hays
(right) steadied my
spotting scope in the 
rocking boat.  The 
nest photo was captured on the first try and then we could not 
get stable enough conditions to get another exposure.

Both Hays and I believed we could see an eagle head above
the nest's rim.  No other eagle was observed today.

A spokesperson for Washington County Partners LLC in
Asheville was enormously cooperative and expressed 
an interest in the eagles' welfare.  Amazingly,  they had
no idea the nest was on their property and my call to them
was the first they had heard about the nest.

I want to express thanks to Regional Wildlife Biologist 
Allen Boynton of the VDGIF for his days and many
hours of communications and his efforts to facilitate my
being able to see the nest.  And a special thanks to Bob
Riggs for making this historic nesting known to the birding
community.

Let's go birding . . . 

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
[Bristol-Birds] Bald Eagle nest towers over South Holston Lake

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