[Bristol-Birds] Eared Grebes at Musick's Campground, South Holston Lake
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:17:30 -0500
Musick's Campground
South Holston Lake
Sullivan Co., TN
15 Nov 2012
James Brooks found two (2) Eared Grebes at Musick's Campground,
Thurs. 15 Nov 2012. This becomes the first winter record date for the
species at South Holston Lake for this year. They were in Tennessee.
I spent about 40 minutes trying to get a good look at two birds there on Wed.,
14 Nov 2012, which I felt had potential to be the Eared Grebe. The
water was rough and it was windy. Nightfall was falling fast and I
could not get a good look. I had counted about 10 Pied-billed Grebes in a
small raft under the campers at Washington County Park in Virginia.
Then, looking straight out from the outer banks at Musick's, I could see
two birds that were about 200 yards apart. One of them swam for more
than a mile from that point (moving from right to left along the far shoreline
and up the lake to cross into Virginia and was almost to the Pied-billed Grebe
raft when it got too dark to keep up with it. The other of the two "Eared"
types
disappeared and was not seen again after having watched it for about
20 minutes. Both of these birds were well down and beyond where we had
mostly seen the Western Grebe.
The birds I felt could be an Eared had a longer neck and kept it forward when
swimming. The image was so poor I could not see the bill or see its shape or
position on the face or even size or shape. I could not see the top of the
head well enough to observe the peak of the crest. A fishing boat was running
about scattering about 75 coots for entertainment. It kept everything unstable
until about five minutes before dark.
I intended to go back Thursday morning and look for the Eared Grebe but we
got bust with insurance business and did not go birding today.
Nice find, James! Glad we did not have a winter when no Eared Grebes came
to South Holston.
They have been regular there for about 16 years since the first Eared Grebe
was found by a group of birders on a Bristol Bird Club float boat field trip 2
Oct 1994
(Lloyd Jones, Coffey, Larry McDaniel, Jeff Larsen, Karen Musick, Jay Jones and
Bob Quillen).
It was found overwintering the following year when Mary Jane Erwin and her
friend, Gerald
Johnson of Birmingham, saw the second Eared Grebe there on 2 Oct 1995. Eight
birds
were eventually found there the next month.
On 6 Oct 1996, a state record 21 Eared Grebes were found there by Coffey,
McDaniel,
Rob Biller and Ron Carrico.
Let's go birding. . . .
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
Other related posts:
