Virginia Birders:
On Wednesday (8/7), Chris O'Bryant and I determined that a
mysterious, large, white, wadeing bird at South Holston Lake
near Musick's Campground is a GREAT WHITE HERON.
We have repeatedly had this bird in Sullivan County, TN
and in Washington County, VA.
I've been back twice during late evenings to look for the bird.
Ken Hale called last night and wanted to join the search. Ken
and I took his powerful deckboat, which will hit speeds of almost
50 mph, and searched the Spring Creek Embayment near
Musick's Campground.
We found the bird and followed it around for almost two hours.
We came upon Malcolm Sprinkle in his yard and he joined us
on board for the last hour. We had close and long looks at the
bird at close range for periods up to 20 minutes at a stretch.
This Florida race of the Great Blue Heron, found locally in Florida
and especially in the Keys and the Everglades, has been
found at South Holston Lake: 15-19 Oct 1990
(Howard Langridge, Rick Knight, Brian Cross);
29-31 Aug 1991 (Wallace Coffey, Ken Hale and
John Shumate) and 25 Aug 1994 (1) (Richard Lewis).
Tom Joyce reported this Great White Heron race of the
Great Blue at Hendersonville NC in recent days.
Ron Selvey said he had seen the Western North Carolina bird
with its gray, not black legs and dismissed it as a
Great Egret. Tom saw an immature Great White Heron
in Brevard last year.
The South Holston Lake bird can be seen from the
Musick's Campground area or from Washington County
Park or Lake Road in the Spring Creek Embayment.
The bird is shy and we had not had a lengthy, close,
study of the bill until last night.. Under most light conditions
and when seen flying, the bird has straw-colored to yellow legs,
yellow bill that is somewhat horn colored on the upper
mandible. The face, bill length and head shape appear to
be similar to the Great Blue Heron. The bill color
suggests it may be an immature bird in its first year of life.
It is about the size of a couple of other Great Blue Herons
in the area. It flies with a heavy body appearance
and has a deep, determined wingstoke. Last night Ken and I
watched a Great Blue Heron fly at the bird and land where
the Great White Heron was standing as it chased the
white heron away. During the instance that the two were
together on the shoreline we could tell no difference in
size.
Last night we were able to study the bird with a 30X
Kowa scope at distances from 150 to 200 feet for
extended periods. The yellow bill is more evident when
seen against a dark background and less evident when
light rocks are in the background or it is facing you.
As far as I know, the only Tennessee records for this race
have been the observations at South Holston and maybe
all but one or two of the Virginia records are from South
Holston. The Great White Heron is known to wander
north as vagrants following the breeding season.
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
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