[Bristol-Birds] water levels low at South Holston; birding good
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2007 17:28:59 -0400
Area Birders:
South Holston Lake, east of Bristol, appears in a steady drawdown.
The elevation has dropped to 1711.6 feet which is 13 feet below this
date last year. Conditions for shore birding are slightly past optimum for
exposed areas but the migration schedule is optimum and shore birding
may grow more productive with each passing day.
This is the lowest summer pool level in many years. We may not
have reached this low of a lake elevation in a couple of decades or so.
For those of you who are new to this form of mountain lake birding, it
is the combination of having shorebird migration passage occur when
the exposed mudflats are prevalent and wet. The exposed mudflats are
slightly beyond peak and drying rapidly in some areas of South Holston.
Shorebird and exposed mudflat shoreline habitat at Musick's Campground and in
the Spring Creek Embayment and the mouth of Spring Creek channel along Va. Rt.
75 is in good condition for stopping and holding
shorebirds, terns, herons, egrets, eagles, ospreys, grebes and a variety of
waterfowl as they arrive and/or make passage.
We are now at a point which daily coverage by birders is
highly recommended. The best time is early morning after heavy overnight
rainfalls and almost any day during the last hour before dark. Islands are
all exposed and the water level is probably within inches of allowing one
to walk out on Egret Island at Musick's Campground. The outerbanks of
Musick's are so far out of the water that boaters are backing down some
distance below normal to reach water level for launching.
During recent years the TVA summer pool drawdown has reached
an optimal peak of 1721 to 1722 feet on or about August 10.
This is well timed for shorebird migration here at the foot of Holston Mountain,
the western most mountain in the Unaka chain of the Blue Ridge.
It appear that we have an approximate 30 to 45-day window which best
benefits shorebird and wading bird migration. This will likely be good
until the last of September or mid-October if not longer. At elevations below
1723
the Spring Creek Mudflats along Va. Rt. 75 become well exposed as do
other smaller areas in the Virginia portion of the impoundment.
The "Musick's Campground" vicinity (Spring Creek Embayment) is at the
confluence of Spring Creek with the more narrow-channel of the South Holston
Reservoir along the Virginia-Tennessee line. It provide some of the most
critical and useful shorebird and wading bird habitat in the Upper Holston
Projects.
The Spring Creek Embayment has a 12-year history of hosting the Southeastern
United States' largest migratory and wintering population of Eared Grebes.
Nearly two dozen individuals have been present there in a single count in
recent years. This is also the area in which a large variety of
gulls andterns feed during passage and after costal hurricanes
drive them inland. Some good finds include the Sabine's Gull, Laughing Gull,
Black-legged Kittiwake, Sooty Tern, Lesser Black-backed Gull, White Ibis,
American White Pelican, Least Tern, Tundra Swan and Pacific Loon.
The pebbled-shorline attracts some of our rarest shorebirds and is visited by
Ruddy Turnstones among many other species. Stilt Sandpiper, Black-bellied
Plover,
American Avocet, Marbled Godwit, Whimbrel, Red Knots and American Golden Plover
Great White Heron and Sandhill Crane have utilized the area at Musick's
Campground as have winter Dunlin.
It is a feeding and resting place for dowitchers. willets, smaller
plovers and many species of waterfowl. It has also been a stopover site for
the Snow Bunting and a passage Lapland Longspur.
Musick's Campground is the most heavily birded site for waterbirds between
Rankin Bottom and the New River. It may well be the most frequently birded
site in the entire western Virginia areaof the Ridge and Valley.
Birders are required to sign in and identify themselves at a visitor station,
list their findings and note the time arriving and departing.
They also list their hometowns. This is monitored by the property owner
and encouraged by the Bristol Bird Club. All visitation records and specie
accounts are kept on file by the club. The sign in is a condition of access
required by the owner. It is part of the BBC agreement with the owner for
birder access to an area which is otherwise posted to "no trespassing."
Please cooperate.
The location attracts nationwide interest since it was a lead article on the
front page of "Winging It" published by the American Birding Association.
Portions of this message have been posted to Bristol Birds Net in previous
years. This is a great time to be a birder. Musick's Campground is a
wonderful place to be birding.
Let's go birding....
Wallace Coffey
Bristol Bird Club
Bristol, TN
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