[Bristol-Birds] Late fall Burkes Garden eagle trip highly successful

From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:44:54 -0500
The Bristol Bird Club's first ever late-fall field 
trip to Burkes Garden in Tazewell Co., VA, 
Sunday (22 Nov), was revealing and 
rewarding to birders who turned out for
the event.

When the BBC first went to the valley nearly 20 
winters ago, the conventional belief became that 
late winter was the optimum time for diurnal 
raptors -- especially eagles.  The eagles were 
frequenting areas where sheep were raised.  They
seemed to prey on sick or weak lambs and seek
out the after birth of ewes which had lambed early.
Over time, sheep farming has greatly diminished.














Did we have a good comparison to what the 
habitat might be like in late fall and what species
might be utilizing the habitat?  On Sunday birders
found the valley rather green.  The pastures were
not bare of vegetation from the stress of cattle
heavily grazing and a winter of mechanical hay
feeding.  The grasslands probably still hold a 
good prey base and especially small mammals.

Tom Hunter was the leader for his fellow BBC 
members and produced neat birds:

Canada Goose - 200 (all at Gose Mill Pond)
Wood Duck - 1
American Wigeon - 2
American Black Duck - 2
Mallard - 36
Green-winged Teal - 20
Pied-billed Grebe - 1 (on the small lake-like pond)
Great Blue Heron - 4 (an interesting large number)
Black Vulture - 20 (at 3,100 feet elevation)
Turkey Vulture - 54 (both species going to roost)
Bald Eagle - 1 adult
Northern Harrier - 2 (including one silver-plumage male)
Red-tailed Hawk - 18 (widely distributed an hunting fields)
Rough-legged Hawk - 1 (light morph)
Golden Eagle - 4 (2 adults and 2 immatures)
American Kestrel - 6 (all but maybe one were females)
Killdeer - 10
Rock Pigeon - 2
Mourning Dove - 24
Belted Kingfisher - 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Loggerhead Shrike - 1
Blue Jay - 6
American Crows ~ 50
Common Raven - 15 (active and widely distributed)
Horned Lark - 78
White-breasted Nuthatch - 3
Carolina Wren - 1
Eastern Bluebird - 2
American Robin - 5
European Starling - 12
Song Sparrow - 5
Swamp Sparrow - 2
Northern Cardinal - 1
Eastern Meadowlark - 3
House Finch - 1
American Goldfinch - 16

Mammals:

White-tailed Deer - 6
Fox Squirrels ~ 10+
Eastern Cottontail - 1
Groundhog - 1













Participants:

Janice Martin, Bristol, TN
Fred Martin, Bristol, TN
Peggy Herbert, Belfast, VA
Ellen Parker, Piney Flats, TN
Dave Worley, Rosedale, VA
Tom Hunter, Lebanon, VA
Mike Sanders, Bristol, VA
Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
Carolyn Coffey, Bristol, TN
Rick Knight, Johnson City, TN
Jim Ratchford, Blowing Rock, NC
Doris Ratchford, Blowing Rock, NC











     Rough-legged Hawk digiscope
       photo taken in wind from ~ 600 yards.

Notes:

The U.S. Post Office has been closed and no longer has a sign
which identifies it as a U.S. Post Office.  The economy finally got
the best of this quaint relic.  It was nice to have so many active
birds and not have bitter cold or tough winds.  Not a flake of 
snow was present and you didn't have to step in and out of snow
banks.  The store is under the management of a new young woman
who is very active and extremely helpful.  Friendly is a good term.
For the first time ever we left vehicles at a new location which is
Mountain Sports store on Commonwealth Ave.  Bill Grigsby had
come up with that idea earlier this year and Steve Cheers, one 
of the managers, told us Saturday we were quite welcome.

Ellen Parker kept the bird list and did an excellent job !  Dave Worley
drove the lead car and Hunter rode shotgun.  Everyone was
impressed with the conditions and the birds and their numbers.

"Looks like we have begun a new tradition," Rick Knight suggested
with a smile at the end of the day.  

Let's go birding . . . .

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
[Bristol-Birds] Late fall Burkes Garden eagle trip highly successful

Other related posts:
