[bristol-birds] Bowmantown ramble
- From: Dnldhlt@xxxxxxx
- To: bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, butternuts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 13:29:57 EST
Hey folks,
If this works the way I hope it does, I will be posting this
simultaneously to bristol-birds and butternuts. (By the way Wallace, I sent
a message to freelists-help asking why I can't find any messages on the
archives of tn-birds. I have the same problem with bristol-birds. I'll let
you know if they tell me anything.)
The TWRA wetland at Bowmantown last night (Thurs. Jan. 31, 2002) was a
hoot. The temperature was in the mid 70's F. I got there at about sunset
and donned my waders (or should I say my waders were Donned), grabbed my
trusty herpetological tool, ($5 at Big Lots, on the shelves now, Larry McD.)
and headed down the trail. They made the gate so that it now opens inward,
down the hill. Much easier to handle. The first thing I saw was a little
girl with a backpack sitting at the bottom of the hill, next to some metal,
legged contraption. She started whistling a tune, loudly and deliberately,
like a signal, then walked around the bend. Turns out it was a couple and
their daughter there from Jonesboro. The adults were painting landscapes.
The contraption was one of their two homemade easels. They had fallen in
love with the place and were taking advantage of the balmy weather. As we
exchanged pleasantries I noticed five or six Eastern Towhees flying among the
bushes. I heard several more calling as they settled in for the evening.
I've never encountered so many Towhees at one time before! As I continued
down the trail I heard lots of Song Sparrows. They seemed to be settling in
among the tall grass and weeds around the edge of the marsh. I also heard
several of some other bird in the marsh vegetation making high pitched 'pink'
notes. I heard one note given that reminded me of the last note in the Black
Rail's 'kikeepoo' call, coming from the middle of the marsh. Spring Peepers
were calling sporadically from the marsh and the forest. An Eastern Screech
Owl whinnyed from the vicinity of the spring for a while, then fell silent. I
knew he would probably be quiet then until after he had fed, and I might hear
him again in about an hour. I heard a strange call from the marsh, then an
answer, and several more exchanges. It was at low volume, unmusical,
squishing noises like you make in the back of your throat. They retreated
then stopped. Then I heard one or two Wood Frogs chuckle briefly, then stop.
It was silhouette time by then. Everything had pretty much gone silent. I
turned on my flashlight and started wading in the marsh. Yellow Flag seeds
were everywhere, looking like small kernels of reddish brown Indian corn.
The water was full of mayfly larvae that hid when the light hit them. I
couldn't find any salamanders in the marsh, but after a while I heard a
Chorus Frog. It was very slow and unmusical, almost a monotone clicking,
very slightly speeding up at the end. (Later I listened to my frog call cd.
I'm sure it was our usual Upland Chorus Frog just warming up, but it sounded
similar to the recording of the Southern Chorus Frog, which is way out of our
range.) It quit after a few calls. I looked in one small puddle and found a
small crawdad. It looked like one of the burrowing crawdads I have seen at
Steele Creek Park, dark bluish with orange pincer tips. (I took it home for
observations and found several small worms on it.) I have been curious about
burrowing crawdads. I can't find much information about them. Kevin Hamed
has a copy of a key to crayfish species I'm going to try to use on it. I
knew from previous walks that there were many crawdad burrows at the back of
the swamp at the foot of the hill near the spring. (A swamp has trees, a
marsh does not.) I decided to look for more crawdads there. In that section
the screech owls were in the trees giving their monotone trills. I found
lots of burrows but nary a crawdad. Many holes were concentrated alongside
logs. I think having a burrow under a log would give them protection from
cold and from being walked on by large mammals or dug up and eaten by small
ones. The swamp was criss-crossed by ca 6 inch wide, straight, muddy trails
with raccoon tracks on them. In the shallow, silt-bottomed pools near the
spring were small fish, yellowish in the light of my flashlight, without bold
markings, around an inch long, with an upturned mouth designed for
top-feeding. With them were salamanders of similar size and color with four
legs, gills and laterally compressed round-tipped tails. About that time it
started smelling skunky out, or more like fox. The temperature was still
quite mild, I guess near 60 F. I decided to call it a night. On the way
home, about 9 pm, I stopped by Persimmon Ridge in Jonesborough to listen for
frogs, but heard nothing. I think they were waiting for the weather to turn
wet. I was disappointed at not finding woodcock, as I had heard them at
Bowmantown wetland last year, and reports are coming in across the state of
display activity already. Last year I heard woodcock several times but never
got a good look. Anticipation!
- Don Holt, Central, Carter Co., TN
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