[TN-Bird] silver point bbs route today
- From: Stephen Stedman <SStedman@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 31 May 2008 12:40:34 -0500
This morning I ran the first of seven federal BBS routes that I plan to
run during this BBS season. This morning's route, named Silver Point
(and identified as 82025--where 82 = Tennessee and 025 = Silver Point),
begins in western Putnam County, runs along Center Hill Lake in DeKalb
County, and ends in Smith County. It features a wide variety of
habitats, so it usually produces a nice list of species. This morning's
run through this route was my 19th time covering it since I began to
conduct it in 1990, and so far I have not missed a year of conducting it
during that period. It will no doubt some day seem strange to me not to
run it in late May or early June as the kick-off route to the annual BBS
season, but I hope that day is way in the future.
The route, which begins precisely at 0453 CDT (one-half hour before
sunrise), features four opening stops that are adjacent to I-40, so
traffic noise from that roadway often interferes with hearing the birds
that are singing and probably accounts for the fact that almost no owls
have been recorded on this route and only one goatsucker, a chuck I
luckily recorded about a decade ago. The first birds I hear this year
during the first seconds at stop 1 are three quite predictable American
Robins, all caroling away, as they (and their predecessors) have caroled
at this stop ever since I started conducting Silver Point; an almost
equally predictable Chipping Sparrow trills dully away off to the east;
one of many dozens of Indigo Buntings I will record this morning is
choppily singing to the west; mimids are represented at stop 1 this year
by a Brown Thrasher to the northeast, while an Orchard Oriole just to
the east adds some diversity to the first stop. In the gloom of early
morn I can just make out the alpha codes of these species on the sheet
where I record their presence, and I strain to put a tick mark in the
correct box for each.
I begin stop 2 as I usually begin all BBS stops, stepping out of the car
and simultaneously starting the 3-minute timer on my watch, all in one
long-practiced motion. Immediately, two Wood Thrushes E--o--lay off to
the south while another countersings to the north; a gnatcatcher's
wheezy call is barely audible above the muffled roar of passing semis on
I-40, which is just 80 meters away at this stop. Cardinals, buntings,
Field Sparrows, Yellow-breasted Chat, and Common Yellowthroat all offer
up their identities on the air waves here, despite the din of traffic so
close. Stops 3 and 4 continue along the interstate, a testament to the
foresight of those who planned this route back in the mid-1960s; the
latter stop is made unique when the only Gray Catbird of the day sings
obligingly close, so that it can be heard despite the roaring traffic
nearby. Stop 5 is placed far enough away from I-40 that the drone of
traffic does not unduly interfere with the various vocalizations of the
resident birds; a bobwhite enunciates its name here, as does a calling
chickadee; another oriole of the orchard variety offers itself up for
statistical analysis. Stop 6 is usually the stop where the
chick-per-weo-chick of a White-eyed Vireo is first evident each year,
and so it is this year except that two, not one, are singing within
close proximity to the stop. Stop 7 yields up the first Red-eye of the
route, Stop 8 two Downy Woodpeckers and a threeA-ing Yellow-throated
Vireo. Stop 9 begins nicely with a bee-buzzer (Blue-winged Warbler)
sounding off quite close by, and some Barn Swallows put in an
appearance. Stop 10, the last stop in Putnam County, yields a distant
American Redstart, but no Cerulean Warbler, a species I have recorded
here many times in the past.
Passing into DeKalb County between stops 10 and 11, I pull in to the
nice parking area for the latter stop, step out and start the timer, and
hear a very distant sound that has all the earmarks, if I may use that
term, of an Acadian Flycatcher about it. Cupping my ears, I strain to
hear it again and am rewarded 25 seconds later by another, only slightly
louder, version of the peach-up "song" of this suboscine. Then the
Cerulean missing from the last stop announces its presence at this one,
sounding like a somewhat mushy-mouthed parula; not to be left out, a
Northern Parula begins to sing between the songs of the Cerulean, so I
get a nice comparison of the two. Stop 12 provides the first Prairie
Warbler of the day, along with more Field Sparrows and other common
species. Stop 13, located at the Wolf Creek Church, brings a plaintive
pee-a-wee into the field of those species noted down for posterity, as
well as a host of species already recorded. Stop 14 offers up its own
new species, a piercingly close Louisiana Waterthrush that nearly knocks
my socks off with its wild song. Stop 15 provides another beebuzzer and
then the first Kentucky Warbler of the day. Stop 16 has been reliable
for Wild Turkeys in the past, and, sure enough, a gobbler sounds off
from the top of the nearby, densely wooded ridge about a minute into the
stop. Stop 17 is located near the base of a huge cottonwood that stands
just to the east of the entrance to Edgar Evins State Park and has been
around far longer than the park, though few who make their way to the
park probably notice this fact; a rough-winged swallow is added to the
route's list here. Stop 18 is placed at the entrance to the road that
leads down to the boat ramp below the Center Hill Dam; here the first
Turkey Vulture of the day is placidly roosting on a power tower, but I
only record it because it decides to fly about 10 seconds before the end
of the 3-minute counting period. Stop 19 is located at the end of the
parking lot above the tailwaters to the dam; Black Vultures are regular
here, and I record 14 of them today. Stop 20 is located on the far side
of the dam where construction activities to repair the dam have caused a
large part of the vegetation on the nearby hillsides to be bull-dozed,
somewhat limiting the friendliness of this site to most of the woodland
birds that I formerly recorded here; nonetheless another Orchard Oriole
sings in one of the few remaining trees.
Stop 21 is located with Center Hill Lake off to one side and a mature
deciduous forest on a hillside to the other. The day's first Great Blue
Heron croaks/retches/squawks (take your pick) on the lake side, while
the first of the day's Scarlet Tanager's sore-throatedly sings on the
hillside; 20 seconds from the end of the counting period a Worm-eating
Warbler softly trills on the hillside. Stop 22 offers more of the same
habitats, and the day's second Cerulean sings here, as well as the first
Pileated and far overhead two martins. Stop 23 continues the dual
habitat offering, and here another Scarlet carols overhead. Stop 24 is
deja vu all over again, as is stop 25, though here a distant, lakeside
Prothonotary Warbler's sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet breaks up the monotony a
bit. At stop 26, near the entrance to the Center Hill Marina, a cuckoo
uck-uck-ucks, allowing me to add it to the daily list. Stop 27 is
reliable for Cedar Waxwing, and, true to past form, the high-pitched,
thin trills of this lovely bird are easy to pick out among the chorus of
other songs that vibrate in the morning air. Stop 28, located on a road
to the right going to the little hamlet of Temperance Hall, provides the
third and last Cerulean of the day. Stop 29, perched at the top of a
steep hillside, is subjected to winds approaching Beaufort 3 (12-15 mph
or so), so I can suddenly hear only a few species, mainly the loud
singers, as the forest canopy rustles loudly in the wind. Stop 30,
although also subjected to windy conditions, still brings the first
Hooded Warbler of the day.
Stop 31 usually has Blue Grosbeak, but today no grosbeak offers its song
to my ears, though another cuckoo is present. Stop 32 is situated in
"downtown" Temperance Hall, so the first starlings of the day and some
swifts are added to the list. Stop 33 leaves the hamlet behind and
offers up the species of the agricultural scene along with those that
associate with placid rivers--Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackles,
Eastern Meadowlarks all make their first appearance, as does the first
of the day's two Green Herons and the only American Kestrel to come
within view, but the stop's usual Cliff Swallows are missed. Stop 34
makes up for that miss, providing 6 Cliff Swallows and the day's first
and only Yellow Warbler. Stop 35 yields no new species, and neither
does stop 36, where a nearby parula noisily assaults the air waves every
15 or 20 seconds. Stop 37 is usually characterized by noise
interference of the canine kind, but today the local mutts are quiet;
after the stop, which provides a crested flycatcher, I drive by the
house where the pooches live, and they are asleep beside a truck,
apparently too tired to harass an interloper of the bird surveying kind.
Stop 38 yields another Louisiana Waterthrush to the small number on my
list, but a hummingbird is a nice addition. Stop 39 begins nicely with
a calling Pileated, but the niceness dissipates quickly because the
Pileated continues to call, every three-quarters of second, for the
duration of the 3-minute counting period; by then I am happy to leave it
to whatever is disturbing it. Stop 40 is mercifully out of earshot of
the Pileated, so I settle in for some more nice listening, hearing
another beebuzzer among the dozen or so species whose songs and calls
reverberate in the warming air.
Stop 41, in Smith County now, has nothing new to offer among its ten or
so resident birds. Stop 42 is equally lacking in the novel, but three
countersinging Kentucky Warblers and several dozen friendly Hackberry
Emperors keep me alert (I recall a day a decade ago when the emperors
were so thick that I could see 100s at a time, but not so today). Stop
43 is quiet; I record only six species, none new for the day. Stop 44
brings more vultures of each species, but nothing new. Stop 45 offers
up another Orchard Oriole among its dozen or so common species. Stop 46
begins nicely with a Killdeer calling in the distance, improves
considerably when a Song Sparrow, the first of the day, sings nearby,
becomes still more wonderful when a Grashopper Sparrow, the day's only,
lisps lingeringly in the nearby pasture, almost reaches avifaunal
ecstacy when a Baltimore Oriole sings overhead toward the end of the
third minute, and actually attains something like a birdgasm when the
oriole flies off, showing its glowing colors for all the world, or at
least for me, to see. Stop 47 can't compete with that complement of
species and is content merely to offer up a potpourri of the common
stuff. Stop 48 is located near a shop where semi-trailer trucks are
tuned up, and today I once again get to pit my ear-birding skills
against the steady rumble of an 18-wheeler engine; at first the semi
seems to win this content, but well into the second minute I hear the
first Blue Grosbeak of the day in a nearby hedgerow; overall, however,
I'd have to say that the semi won this one, and I leave with very few
marks added to the last of the five data sheets on which my list for the
day is accumulating. Stop 49 adds another pair of martins to the list,
another Prairie Warbler, but no more novel species. The last stop of
the day begins at 0837 CDT in a cemetery on the outskirts of the hamlet
of Hickey; the day's second Green Heron flies over as the seconds tick
down to zero; then I cease my effort to be a human bird-detection device
and rejoin the rest of humanity. So it will go for six more routes
spread out over the next couple of weeks. Oh, I ended up with 75 species
this morning, tied for most I have recorded on this particular route,
but I missed about a dozen get-able species, so my hope of one day
recording 80 species on an Upper Cumberland BBS route remains alive.
Steve Stedman
Cookeville, TN (and the Upper Cumberland Region)
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