[TN-Bird] Rankin, etc.
- From: K Dean EDWARDS <kde@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Tennessee Birds <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 23:32:38 -0400 (EDT)
Sunday morning (18 Sept) started promising with a PHILADELPHIA
VIREO and 3-4 SWAINSON'S THRUSHes eating Black Gum berries in
the trees in our back yard (Knox Co, TN). I had single
Swainson's and GRAY-CHEEKED Thrushes and a SCARLET TANAGER
Saturday morning.
After church, I headed to Rankin WMA in Cocke Co. The water
level there was perfect... birding was dismal and depressing.
The lake level was at 978ft but with recent weather patterns
and the new drawdown schedule getting the lake to this level
a month later than in the recent past, not much was to be
found. Only time I've ever been to Rankin and seen NO Killdeer.
Dutch Bottoms (Jefferson/Cocke Co.):
Great Blue Heron, several
Great Egret, several
Double-crested Cormorant, ~20
Killdeer, 2
Ring-billed Gull, 1 adult
Rankin WMA (Cocke Co.):
Northern Shoveler, 7
Great Blue Heron, several
Great Egret, several
Black-crowned Night Heron, 2
AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, 1
Double-crested Cormorant, 1
Pectoral Sandpiper, 7
Semipalmated Sandpiper, 1 juvenile
Magnolia Warbler, 1
Cherokee Dam and Lake (Jefferson/Grainger/Hamblen Co.):
Osprey, 1
Killdeer, 18
On the way home, about 8PM, I saw a half-dozen or so
COMMON NIGHTHAWKs flying around the billboards along
I-40 in downtown Knoxville.
There are still a few shorebirds passing through so something
good could still show up at Rankin. I saw both yellowlegs
species, Spotted Sandpiper and Black-bellied Plover in Ottawa,
Canada earlier this week so they're not all south of us yet.
I think the stagnant weather with few fronts may be partly
to blame but also wonder if TVA's drawdown rate (about a foot
per day) is too fast to provide food for shorebirds. In the
past the drawdown rate was closer to 1/3 to 1/2 foot per day
starting August 1. Rankin will be completely dry by next
weekend at the current rate.
Missing the good old days...
Dean Edwards
Knoxville, TN
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