[Bristol-Birds] Lowe elevation junco, Red-shouldered (Johnson Co.)
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2006 17:01:21 -0400
While running the Beaverdam Stream Breeding Bird Survey Mini Route this
morning I had a couple of interesting observations.
The first was a Dark-eyed Junco in the parking lot at Backbone Rock in the
Cherokee National Forest in Johnson County, TN. This is at 2,180 feet and
is the lowest elevation juncos have been reported during the breeding season
for the county (to the best of my knowledge) and for that watershed which
includes Shady Valley. Ron Carrico and Rob Biller had one in the mid-1990's
at about the same elevation on a tributary of Little Jacob's Creek on a
former portion of old U.S. 421 in Sullivan County. They called their study
site "Towhee Ridge." It is a lower slope of Delaney Mountain.
The second observation today was a Red-shouldered Hawk at the mouth of
Stillhouse Branch at Beaverdam Stream along TN. Rt. 133 in the north facing
cove hardwood riparian area. Ron Harrington, Chris O'Bryan and I had a
Red-shouldered Hawk at this same count stop (No. 14), 9 June 2003. The site
features mature trees of yellow poplar, maple, red oaks and sycamore with a
few scattered hemlocks. The elevation is 2,220 feet. This is northeast of
Shady Valley.
Red-shouldered Hawks during the breeding season are very rare in the Upper
Holston River Watershed and Northeast Tennessee. The species nested at
Kingsport in Sullivan County last year.
Let's go birding..
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
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