Sunday, March 30, 2003 Kingsport, TN An outing by Don Holt, Linda & Dexter Newman, and Michael Poe to Kingsport Sunday, despite the snow, proved very rewarding. A trip to Meadowview Marsh to view an active American Woodcock nest previously discovered by Linda Newman turned up an empty nest. After a close examination of the eggshells, I believe they indicate a successful hatching rather than predation. (The precocious young leave the nest shortly after hatching.) If anyone observes American Woodcock there this year, with or without young, please let me know. At the Interstate 181 bridge over Long Island, we failed to find any Cliff Swallows around the numerous nests, but in the main river channel under the bridge were Tree, Barn, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows. They, along with some Eastern Bluebirds, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a Northern Mockingbird, were repeatedly landing on and momentarily clinging to the vertical sides of the bridge support columns. A closer inspection revealed large numbers of adult caddisflies on these structures. The swallows were also hawking over the shoals upstream. Later, at the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Holston, we observed an estimated 200 or more swallows hawking over the shoals beside the island downstream. I suspect the caddisflies were emerging from the shoals. We also located the two Yellow-crowned Night-heron nest-sites recently discovered in Kingsport, one at the end of Ravine Rd., and the other at the end of American Way. At each site we saw one Yellow-crowned Night-heron on a nest, but didn't stay long enough to see a mate. The site at American Way had a second smaller and seemingly unused nest nearby. We also visited the Great Blue Heron rookery near Fort Patrick Henry Dam. There are some very large nests there. Is that indicative of the age of the rookery? Nearby along the river we saw ten Black-crowned Night-herons roosting in the trees and occasionally flying up toward the dam. They might have been feeding there, though we couldn't see for the trees. Many thanks to the people who found and shared these wonderful gifts: Linda Dexter, Marion Finucane, Rick Phillips, Mary Jane Erwin, (and Wallace Coffey for his map and directions to Marion's Yellow-crown, and the listserves that make this sort of thing practical). And thanks to both Linda and Dexter for inviting me out. Along with Michael Poe, they are a fun and friendly group of birders. I intend to guide them to some more of our local birding hotspots soon, but if someone can beat me to it, please take them to Musicks Campgound. They have never been there and are interested in waterfowl. Don Holt Johnson City, TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================