[TN-Bird] [Fwd: Fall in the Smokies?]
- From: Raincrow <raincrow@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: TNbird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 07:30:22 -0400
Well, Charlie, I must be a half-season ahead, too, because I've seen
numerous early harbingers of autumn down here in my part of the
flatlands, including my ironweed. Of course the birds responded to last
week's drop in night temps -- the geese very pronouncedly "V-ed up" and
the K-25 black vulture community started kettling in earnest as they do
each fall. We might not get our first hard freeze down here until
November (as has happened for the past 2 years; I am not used to this!),
but some parts of my tiny universe seem to think it's already September.
Liz Singley
Kingston TN
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [TN-Bird] Fall in the Smokies?
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 20:44:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: Charlie <cmmbirds@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: cmmbirds@xxxxxxxxx
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Folks,
My friends and family always accuse me of being a half a season
ahead, and maybe I am. But with the Cardinal Flower, Joe-Pye Weed,
Wingstem and Ironweed all blooming, can you blame me?
For almost 3 weeks now I've been seeing bigger and bigger flocks of
Starlings and Blackbirds (separate flocks) forming in Maryville,
Walland and Townsend (all in Blount County). Eastern Screech-owls
have ratcheted up their vocalizations in Great Smoky Mountains
National Park. Today I went out looking for odonates with Keith
Langdon, and we saw more hummers than odos! (btw, we saw Tiger
Spiketails, Blue Dashers, Common Green Darners, Ebony Jewelwings,
Common Whitetails, some unknown clubtail with a yellow club, and a
possible Slaty Skimmer)
I saw an Osprey just outside the park on my way in this morning. I
tend to see them in Townsend only during migration.
The last week I've seen 5 Sharp-shinned and 3 Cooper's Hawks, all
without doing any real birding. That is about equal to the number of
accipiters I saw in June and July combined. The fact that Sharpies
outnumbered Coops seems like a fall thing to me in this area (I'd
love it if you birders more experienced here than I would chime in to
tell me if what I've noticed the last 4 years is in line with what
you've seen over the years.)
Finaly, Tracey and I have had a few hummers at our feeders the last 2
weeks. We just don't seem to have a desireable yard for breeding
hummers, they only pass through, it seems. Though there is one less
cat around, so maybe that will change things? :-)
Townsend, TN continues to become less hospitible to grass-loving
birds. The famous Townsend Sparrow Field of a few years ago has a
new big building on it, I'm guessing 2000 square feet base. I went
in to check it out. In the parking lot I noticed a very tame looking
cat. I told the manager. It was his. <Sigh.> And the new Townsend
Culture Center (or whatever it's called... neat sounding project, but
I'm bad with names) is unfortunately going on top of the old
mini-golf land that was pretty good for sparrows last fall, and great
for them 2 years ago. I suggest folks in this area check out Dry
Valley and Wears Cove. I'll send you directions if you're in the
area. Both look really inviting for sparrows.
If you're driving between Walland and Townsend, look for the big,
famous decorative wagon on the south side of US 321. Lately I've
seen lots of turkeys there. I'm sure this isn't the same group
because of the distance involved, but I started noticing these guys
about the time I stopped seeing the ones that were around Sugarlands
Visitor Center so much this fall, winter and spring.
Charlie
=====
**************************************************
Charlie Muise, Naturalist near
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer." -Edward
Abbey
**************************************************
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=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================
The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
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To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
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with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society
Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
endorse the views or opinions expressed
by the members of this discussion group.
Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
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