[Bristol-Birds] Susan Hubley and John Sevier Lake -- a waterbird wonderland !
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:17:11 -0400
Hi Susan and others,
Your four Bald Eagles, seen yesterday afternoon, must really open our eyes
to this
eagle business and should make us all think deeply about what we are seeing.
Yours is, without doubt, the most significant of eagle sightings since this
week began.
It is always amazing to read the diversity and number of water-related
species you
are able to report from your home in the backwaters of John Sevier Lake
(virtually
the mighty Holston River).
Observers in our area are not on a level playing field with you.
Everyone reading this post needs to remember that you, Susan, are in a very
special
location and habitat. Not only do you have an extensive area of shallow
impoundment
but a considerable mass of aquatic plants over much of the area. I recall,
when we
were doing aerial midwinter Bald Eagle counts from small aircraft for TWRA
each
January, how we would fly low along your area and I was astounded how
extensive
your habitat is. I once saw a duck hunter and his dog so far from shore out
in the
lake it was amazing. More amazing, the water wasn't even knee deep where he
was wading.
The Holston River is the most under-birded water resource in our region.
You have opened all of our eyes to how special and how productive
your area of that waterway is.
Four eagles in one afternoon says a lot. It first says that a major river,
along
the foot of an important raptor migration pathway at the foot of Clinch
Mountain,
aligned southwest to northeast, may be a traditional spring eagle highway we
are only now becoming conscious of. That says a lot for only one
afternoon and four birds. But that's ok too. How else can we think deeply
and explore possibilities ?
Tom Hunter and his hawk watching group counted about 50 Bald Eagles flying
down Clinch Mountain past Mendota last September.
Wonder how many can be counted in a two week passage flying up the
Holston near your home in spring? Of course we can only surmise that we
have seen almost
a dozen Bald Eagles, in four days, in March, across our region and that, to
the best of my
knowledge, has been off our radar for more than a century of birding.
We must find a way to determine if this was just a peculiar flight year,
with weather
conditions, wind direction, etc. producing a very rare flight orientation or
if this is
a more annual occurrence.
Whatever it is, we have no previous data or series of reports or even
recognition
that this has ever been seen here, even if it has been going on since
caveman days.
Has it been going on right under our noses while we were watching for the
FOS of whatever ?
If anyone has any other substantial, recorded, data that we are not aware,
we would
like to know so we can continue to get our minds around all these sudden
eagles.
Since any nestling Bald Eagles hatched this year are probably not much
larger
than a tennis ball or baseball, we know this is not young birds just out of
the nest.
We also doubt that the woods are probably full of dozens of eagles and they
have all come out to fly around in circles for a few days to celebrate
spring.
We are, without doubt, seeing a significant passage of migrant eagles moving
north.
How long can we document this flight ? Is it over or just beginning ? Is
four eagles
at your house the peak we detect this year in one day ? How do we determine
the
beginning or end of a spring flight ?
Are we all, through the amazing tool of a listserv and a mailing list,
finding we can
pool observations to not only make a useful discovery but also make history
?
Eagles are well known for migrating in large groups. They often fly
together
with one eagle trailing the next within a mile or less of each other. Such
groups are
known in migration.
The Nolichucky River, French Broad River, Clinch River. Holston River and
Powell River
probably create a massive route, dotted with an enormous expanse of lakes.
And Cherokee Lake, Susan, is the largest, longest and widest of all. Being
big is not
everything. It is everything to have lots of impoundments. John Sevier
Lake is small by
the standards of TVA lakes in the upper Tennessee River drainage. But you
live in
one of the most amazing funnel sites for water-related birds in all of the
Holston.
We are a waterbird wonderland in this deep and wide Ridge and Valley Region
of
the Southern Appalachians. You can say that for Rankin Bottoms. It is a
migrant
trap of astonishing proportions and significance. Lucky for bird study and
ornithology,
it is well covered and rightfully deserving. Arguably, the confluence of
the Nolichucky
and French Broad create a broader funnel in their own rights. Not
challenging that !
Just saying......you know ?
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Hubley"
To: <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: March 29, 2012 06:52
Subject: [Bristol-Birds] Bald Eagles/John Sevier Lake
3/28/12
Three sub-adult Bald Eagles seen in the afternoon, two perched and one fly
over.
One adult Bald Eagle seen later in the afternoon.
Susan Hubley
Rogersville, Hawkins County
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