[TN-Bird] Knox CBC - beginning of county Big Year
- From: Charlie <cmmbirds@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: TN-Bird <TN-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Dean EDWARDS <kde@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2005 17:10:12 -0800 (PST)
Hi folks,
As you may recall, I?m trying out a 1-county big year in Blount.
Since I attended an annual New Years party in Alabama, I started a
day late, but started well with the Knox Christmas Bird Count. The
area I covered was the southeastern portion including Wright?s Ferry
Road and Topside Road. I?ve never birded ANY of the places I went
today, so it was adventuresome. I also got off to a rough start -
overslept, then forgot my Great-horned Owl tape as I ran out the
door. My GHOW call is pretty pathetic, so I'm not surprised I didn't
get any! Now that I've seen the area in daylight, I think I owled in
about the worst possible place, so I did well to get the 5 Eastern
Screech-owls.
My big year is off to 49 species, but what could have been the 50th
would not cooperate enough for me to identify it. And it may have
been a rarity, but we?ll likely never know. It was an immature
accipiter that I mostly saw from behind. I chased it 3 times for
over a mile, right out of the count circle. The one time it landed
in plain view in good light, a landowner stopped as I was pulling my
scope out of the car to ask what I was doing (I must have looked
interesting as I slammed on my brakes, jumped out, threw open the
back door and grabbed what many people think looks like a weapon). I
tried to be as polite as I could, in letting him know that I was
interested in something that was about to leave. He kindly waited,
but the short delay was enough for the bird to leave again, this time
for good. It was SOOO tempting to call it a Northern Goshawk,
because it looked huge, stout and powerful. But I?m just not sure.
Knox CBC January 2, 2005
Charlie Muise ? Section 14
Owling: 2 miles, 40 minutes
Walking: 3 miles, 4 hours
Driving: 44 miles, 6 hours
45 species, one genus (possibly another species) and 4 species likely
outside count area.
Misses: both vultures, Red-shouldered Hawk, American Coot, Brown
Creeper, American Kestrel, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Meadowlark, all
blackbirds,
Double-crested Cormorant: 70
Great Blue Heron: 17
Canada Goose: 34
Mallard: 42 (not counting some obvious hybrids)
Eastern Screech-owl: 5
Cooper?s Hawk: 1 immature, likely female
Red-tailed Hawk: 6 (all after 1:30 pm; 4 in one field)
Accipiter SP: 1 immature
Killdeer: 6
Bonaparte?s Gull: 4
Ring-billed Gull: 46 not a single sub-adult all day
Rock Dove: 30 (none until 3pm, these were all together)
Mourning Dove: 62
Belted Kingfisher: 6
Red-bellied Woodpecker: 15
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: 3
Downy Woodpecker: 16
Hairy Woodpecker: 2
Northern Flicker: 14
Pileated Woodpecker: 3
Eastern Phoebe: 2
Blue Jay: 35 (probably had more than this)
American Crow: had 65 during the day, then saw HUNDREDS flying
towards some point well out of my area. I did not count these as I
couldn?t have done a good job and wanted to cover my territory. I
hope these were going to a known roost?
Carolina Chickadee: 92
Tufted Titmouse: 54 (and maybe even more than that!)
BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH: 3 at a new location: Topside Road, sr 333
just north of the crossing of Polecat Branch. They were on both
sides of the road, and there likely were more than 3 of them. I saw
and heard them on the east side of the road on property owned by S&ME
Environ consultants. I heard them on the west side of the road next
to a boat ramp. I learned that the BHNUs at the Plant Science Farm
were seen today by Jean, David and June. That makes at least 3
locations in Blount County.
White-breasted Nuthatch: 10
Winter Wren: 1
Carolina Wren: 49 I didn?t miss this species at a single stop all
day.
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 11
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 3
Eastern Bluebird: 20
American Robin: 260 Nearly all were in 3 big flocks
Hermit Thrush: 5
Northern Mockingbird: 36
European Starling: 385 (most were in a single flock at mid day)
Yellow-rumped Warbler: 9 I?ve done 6 counts this year, and this is
the most I?ve had in a day. Wonder where they all are?
Northern Cardinal: 105 (and this might be a low number ? they were
everywhere)
Eastern Towhee: 13
Field Sparrow: 19 all but one were in a big filed near the IJ plant
off Topside
Song Sparrow: 28
Swamp Sparrow: 1 at the IJ field
White-throated Sparrow 103 probably about 1/3 at the IJ field
Dark-eyed Junco: 10
House Finch: 75
American Goldfinch: 55
As I chased the large accipiter, I think I left the count circle.
I?ve talked to Dean who is checking to see if the southwestern part
of Callahan Road is in the circle, or at least near enough to count
the following species, which were all west of the road:
Red-headed Woodpecker: 2 immatures
Loggerhead Shrike: 1
American Pipit: 14 last seen flying west, so I think at least these
ones should count
Savannah Sparrow: 9
=====
**************************************************
Charlie Muise, Naturalist near
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer." -Edward Abbey
**************************************************
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses.
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
=================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.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
========================================================
Other related posts:
- » [TN-Bird] Knox CBC - beginning of county Big Year
