[Bristol-Birds] afield again . . .
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:50:05 -0400
Monitoring the Bald Eagle nest along the South Fork Holston River
upstream from Bluff City in Sullivan County, TN seems to reveal
this year's nest may have just one young. Last year it fledged
two.
The nest appears to be earlier than the newly-discovered
nest across Boone Lake from Winged Deer Park in Washington
County, TN., just off Will Mary Rd.
Bob Cheers reports that one young at the Bluff City nest is very
large, has dark feathers and seen to walk around the
edge of the nest. It has not been seen "branching" where it
moves on to limbs adjacent to the nest. He has not observed
a second nestling.
The Winged Deer nestlings appeared to be more downy and younger.
On 7 April 2012, we observed the Bluff City nest revealed white, downy
heads of one or more eaglets visible just above the rim of the nest and
gently swaying. We did not get a first date of observation of young at
this nest this year. The first downy young seen at Winged Deer Park
this year appears to be about 12 April 2013. However, with the large
eaglet so prominent at the Bluff City nest this year, it must have
hatched much earlier this year than last.
Of curious note, Cheers observed an adult come to the nest and
settle down while the young was on the rim. We don't know if this
is a continued effort to incubate an egg that is either dead or
infertile to begin with. More intriguing would be a late-hatching
eaglet or something even more weird. We'll continue to monitor.
At present, South Holston Lake is well above flood stage and
problems at the dam's generator have caused TVA to "sluice"
with the emergency gate in order to lower the flood stage. This
does not suggest any threat of water flooding over the top of the
dam. However, it has caused the river flow downstream towards
Bluff City to run at peak flow and we wonder if this is presenting
a problem for the eagles which are probably more suited and
successful hunting in shallow water along the river.
I was back in the field today and counted three Ospreys perched along
the layover area along Riverside Rd. between Old Weaver Pike and
Chinquapin Rd. up stream from the eagle's nest. A fourth Osprey was
perched nearby at Paddle Creek Pond on the Crumley Farm.
Near dark, a Great Egret was at Middlebrook Lake in east Bristol,
Sullivan Co., TN.
Let's go birding . . . .
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
Other related posts:
- » [Bristol-Birds] afield again . . . - Wallace Coffey
