The following are the Bristol Bird Club's "Virgil Carr 20 Best Bird
Finds in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia for 2004." This was a
good year for our local birders and the list was named last year in honor of our
fellow birder and friend Virgil Carr who often keeps the vigil with us at
Musick's Campground where he lives on South Holston Lake in Sullivan Co.,
TN. Virgil will soon be undergoing surgery for cancer and today was at the
Vanderbilt Medical Center Hospital in Nashville for consulation. Virgil did
not participate in determining the list. Rick Knight was awarded a wood
sculpture of an Avocet during the BBC Christmas Party for having discovered the
best bird for 2004.
The best bird finds:
1 - Townsend's Warbler (1) 12 Jan 2004 by Rick Knight at Wilbur Lake, Carter
County, in Northeast Tennessee. It was found in a small flock of chickadees. He
is familiary with the bird from having seen it in the Pacific Northwest a few
times. He watched this bird for 6-8 minutes in good light at close range (20-40
ft.).
2 - Townsend's Warbler (1) 26 Sept. 2004 by David Raines at Breaks, Virginia.
on the Buchanan County, VA side of the creek. He was amazed to find it present
in a feeder flock of warblers foraging through the growth between woods and
hayfield. It was a first year female with yellow face and breast with dark
auricular patch. This is the first Southwest Virginia record and the second
regional record for the species. The Townsend's Warbler is an accidental
species for Virginia ! It is extremely rare, to say the least!
3 - Black-necked Stilt (1) 13 Oct 2004 by Rick Knight at Austin Springs on
Boone Lake, Washington County, Tennessee. Seen by Wallace Coffey, Bill Grigsby,
Howard Langridge, Gary Wallace, David Thometz, Bryan Stevens, Rack Cross, James
Brooks, Ellen Parker, Charlie Parker, Chris O'Bryan, Larry McDaniel.
4 - Sooty Tern (1) 8 Sep 2004 at Musick's Lakeside Campground, South Holston
Lake
Sullivan Co., TN. Found and identified by Rick Knight and seen by Tom McNiel
and his son J.T. McNiel, Rack Cross, Ron Harrington, Wallace Coffey, Mary
Erwin, Judy Roach, Bill Grigsby, Dave Worley, Larry McDaniel, Bryan Stevens,
Howard Langridge and Mike Poe.
5 - Lesser Black-backed Gull (1) 18 Sep 2004 by Larry McDaniel, Rack Cross and
Rick Knight at Musick's Lakeside Campground South Holston Lake, Sullivan
County, TN and over the main channel in Washington County VA.
6 - Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (nest with undeterimined number of young) 20 June
2004 by Don Holt. At Ripshin Lake, Roaring Creek Rd., Carter Co., TN. A pair
of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were found feeding an undetermined number of young
in a nest at the edge of Ripshin Lake (elev. ca 3400 ft.). Found by Don Holt
and seen by Wallace Coffey later on same date. Dr. Fred Alsop had seen an
active nest in Unicoi County, TN two decades before.
7 - Red Knot (14) 8 Sep 2004 Musick's Lakeside Campground, South Holston Lake,
Sullivan Co., TN first identified by Rack Cross, Tom McNiel and his son J.T.
McNiel . Seen and confirmed by Eric Smith and Wallace Coffey.
8 - Franklin's Gull (1) 25 Oct 2004 Dutch Bottoms on upper Douglas Lake in
Cocke Co., TN by Rick Knight. Also seen that day by Don Holt.
9 - Eurasian Collared-Dove (1) 7 Jun 2004 in Hawkins County at Bulls Gap, TN.
by John Rucker. This extends the Upper East Tennessee distribution to a county
along the Virginia state border and just west of and adjacent to Sullivan, one
of the tradional five counties we call Northeast Tennessee.
10 - Eurasian Collared-Dove (2) 31 Jul 2004 Mosheim, Greene Co., TN by Don
Miller, the first Greene County record for the species. The birds were present
on a light wire along Highway 348 0.3 mile from its intersection with Highway
11-E.
11 - Eurasian Collared-Dove (1) 31 Aug 2004 Rick Knight first Washington Co.,
TN record and first for the five-county Northeast Tennessee area. the bird was
on Matthew's Mill Rd., about 5 or 6 miles west of Jonesborough & south of Hwy.
11-E.
12 - Red Phalarope (1) 9 Sep 2004 Musick's Campground, South Holston Lake,
Sullivan Co., TN seen at close range by Joe Goldston while birding from a
kayak. Wallace Coffey and John Shumate saw a phalarope there a few hours later
but it flew away before they could get a quick study.
13 - Lapland Longspur (6) 12 Jan 2004 by Rick Knight in the Limestone and
Bowmantown areas of western Washington Co., TN.
14 - Ross's Geese (6) 24 Feb 2004 on the Watauga River, Carter County
(near Elizabethton), on the road to Wilbur Lake about a half mile
upstream from the "iron bridge" at the old bridge foundation. Found by Larry
McDaniel and identified by McDaniel and Rick Knight.
15 - Whimbrel (1) 8 Sep 2004 Musick's Lakeside Campground, South Holston Lake,
Sullivan Co., TN. Found by Rack Cross, Tom McNiel, J. T. McNiel, Eric Smith,
Wallace Coffey, Ron Harrington, Mary Erwin, Judy Roach, Bill Grigsby, Dave
Worley, Larry McDaniel, Rick Knight, Bryan Stevens, Howard Langridge and Mike
Poe.
16 - Red-shouldered Hawk - nest at Kingsport with young March 2004 by Rick
Phillips
2 May 2004 The birds had been adding branches with fresh green leaves to the
nest for
over a week. He saw a young hawk jumped up on the side of the nest and flapped
it's wings briefly and settled back into the nest. This is the first positive
evidence of a nest of this species with active young known from the Upper
Holston River drainage in Upper East Tennessee.
17 - American White Pelican 17 Jul 2004 Hampton, TN. Carter County, Bryan
Stevens and David Thometz a soaring bird over Stevens' home.
18 - Ring-billed Gulls (4) banded during the winter at Bristol. Captured and
banded by Wallace Coffey, Rack Cross and Sammy Cross. Possibly the first of the
species every captured and banded in the southern Appalachians. Likely the
first bandings of the species for Tennessee and possibly for Western Virginia.
19 - Great Blue Heron colony -- 25 Apr 2004. First Washington County, TN.
nesting colony. Found along Hwy 107, by Don Holt. and Joe McGuiness. Had 19
nests with Great Blue Herons on them.
20 - Snow Bunting (1) 13 Nov 2004 in the Spring Creek Embayment area of South
Holston Lake near Musick's Campground. Birders included Don Holt, Diane Draper,
Wallace Coffey, Rack Cross, Sam Cross, Ken Hale and Morgan Hale. This is the
third sighting of a Snow Bunting from Musick's Campground.
Let's go birding.....
Wallace Coffey
Bristol Bird Club
Bristol, TN
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