[TN-Bird] Rankin Bottoms, 7/18/08 - Reddish Egret, etc.
- From: "Charles Nicholson" <cpnichol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:35:52 -0400
Rankin Bottoms, Cocke County
Boyd Sharp and I birded the Rankin Bottoms area from about 1700 to 1940. We
first stopped at the 25E Bridge at Dutch Bottoms, where we had a few Great
Egrets, Great Blue Herons, and D-c Cormorants.
Then onto Rankin Bottoms. We first stopped at the bridge across the French
Broad River, where there were at least a couple hundred Cliff Swallows,
including one that was helplessly flopping around in the river. Soon to be
bass or catfish food. Also had about 25 cormorants there upstream of the
bridge in the retreating shoals and a couple Ospreys around the steel
bridge.
We then stopped at the spot where the entrance road crosses the railroad
tracks. Lots of Killdeer, a few other shorebirds, a dozen or so Great
Egrets, and a few other birds. At the point where the water is close to
both sides of the road, a little before the coal tipple, we had lots more
Killdeer and several other shorebirds, Canada Geese, Mallards, Great Egrets,
Great Blue Herons, and a few swallows. We did not see the Reddish Egret, so
we worked our way west past the coal tipple to the end of the peninsula.
Still no luck with the egret. So we returned to the area where the water is
close to both sides of the road east of the tipple. We soon found the
Reddish Egret at 1850 doing its dance thing along the shoreline of the
peninsula to the north, between the large shallow pool next to the road and
the main river channel. It was working its way towards the west. After
watching it for a while, we concentrated on the numerous shorebirds and the
many hundreds of swallows, mostly Trees, that were perching on the ground
and in the low vegetation on the peninsula near the Reddish Egret. By about
1925, the Reddish Egret was no longer visible, and the cluster of Great
Egrets and Cormorants at the far west end of the peninsula was also gone.
We left a short time later.
Highlights of bird list:
Double-Crested Cormorant - 60
Great Blue Heron - 35
Great Egret - 55
Reddish Egret - 1
Green Heron - 2
Black-crowned Night Heron - 8
Osprey - 5
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 1
Killdeer - 400
Spotted Sandpiper - 1
Lesser Yellowlegs - 1
Least Sandpiper - 15
unid. peeps - 25+
Pectoral Sandpiper - 5
Dowitcher - 2
Ring-billed Gull - 6
Chuck Nicholson
Norris, Tn
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