Spent from 4pm to 5:45 walking the perimeter and the dry interior area of what I am still calling BMS Wetland today. 

First the particulars:

Weather : Cloud cover:  Partly Cloudy to Overcast ; Temperature: ~70F ; Wind: light to steady <10mph with small gusts out of the West. 

The site is roughly 5+ acres of wetland area in Johnson City, Tennessee.  The wetland is almost three quarters surrounded by a small hillside.  The rest of the area around the wetland is grassy fields.  The only vegetation I was able to discern was thick cattails and grass.  I don't think there is much more vegetation type, but I hope to get a few other people to help ID vegetation.

I heard Peepers.  Again, I hope to get more knowledgeable people to help with the herps. 

OK - This is a small wetland area, but I still decided to find different points to survey even though they overlap a little bit.  During this survey, I only had the media player in my cell phone which did not broadcast the sound as far as I would have liked, but it work (sort of). 

The Bird songs played at each point are Swamp Sparrow, Marsh Wren, Virginia Rail, Sora, and Sedge Wren

Point 1 -

Only Swamp Sparrow responded to its recording (1)

Point 2

Again only Swamp Sparrow (2) - one was the same from point 1 and one new one popped up out of the cattails.

Point 3

Here I added another Swamp Sparrow.

Point 4 

Here added two more Swamp Sparrows.

Other birds heard or seen during survey:

Northern Cardinal, Carolina Wren, Sons Sparrows, Eastern Phoebes(2), Eastern Bluebirds, Red-winged Blackbirds ++ (will be nesting), Carolina Chickadees, Turkey Vultures (~6 flyovers), and a Red-tailed Hawk flew out of the trees on the ridge partly surrounding the wetland.

I left around 5:45pm.

Not a bad day, but I need to survey this wetland at first light or at dusk.  If I only didn't have to work.  Maybe Sunday as Rain seems to be moving in for Friday and Saturday.

I have decided to only do 4 Christmas Counts this year.

The Elizabethton CBC and the Roan Mountain CBC are over and they were good. We had some average numbers for winter birds in this area with a few good species as well.

Tom McNeil and myself had a Catbird (which is a great sighting for December in East Tennessee) along the Linear River Park trail in Elizabethton. This is the second year (maybe 3rd) in a row that the count has found them in December. This bird usually moves south to along the coastal areas of the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic Coast. Also they go down into Florida and points farther south.

Also, another party had a Horned Lark which is rare for the Elizabethton CBC as the habitat doesn't seem quite as habitable in Carter County as is does in western Washington County. It does seem that this species should appear more though in this count.

The Roan Mountain Count was average enough with Rick Knight's party getting the high elevation specialties such as the Red-breasted Nuthatches and the Pine Siskins. I was with leader Tom McNeil and Bill Grigsby at the Ripshin Lake area where we had a pretty good day with a Wood Duck, Buffleheads, and Black Ducks on the lake; Red-breasted Nuthatches, Fox Sparrow, and the other usual sparrows along the road by Ripshin Lake. Also, we had a Pied-billed Grebe on Miller Lake (a smaller lake just down from Ripshin). We also had 5 Ravens over the graveyard where we started the day before light owling where we could only get a Screech Owl. The rest of the species that day were pretty average which made it another nice average day with a few major misses.

Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures were the two big misses for both count areas I went on. Also, Killdeer was another miss that I usually see every day while out (at least hear!).

Still - two pretty good days and two more to go over New Year's Holiday.

Whew!

It's been quite a while since I last made a post. Since the time between the last post (which welcomes everyone to the new look of this blog) and this post, the site to which this blog is attached to was hacked and the whole compound. Compound of Technobohemia.net, a Johnson City based web site that incorporates a lot of East Tennessee Culture, History, locally made videos and even a radio program or two etc, but I happily digress. Oh, did I mention that a good guy runs it? A real good guy. He keeps me in the birding blog business every time there is trouble...

I don't think I am going to try and catch up all that has happened between the last post and this one (except for maybe a few things), but use this as a re-jumping off post.

To conclude this one, I am going to mention a few upcoming birding opportunities...

Dec 16 - Elizabethton Christmas Bird Count (CBC) - contact Rick Knight
Dec 17 - Roan Mountain CBC - Contact Rick Knight in Johnson City
Dec 30 - Glade Spring, VA CBC - Contact Ron Harrington - in Bristol VA
Dec 31 - Bristol CBC - Contact Richard Lewis - in Bristol, TN
Jan 1 - Shady Valley_Mountain City, TN CBC - Contact me (comment section of this blog is fine).

These are Christmas Birds counts that date back for over 100 years now that Audubon sponsors. More can be found about these counts by going to www.audubon.net.

Results from all these East Tennessee / SW Virginia counts will be found here as they unfold.

2005/2006 Shady Valley CBC Report
Compiler: Rob Biller

Count Year 106

The Shady Valley/Mountain City Christmas Bird Count was conducted on December 31, 2005. Four parties birded the count area from Shady Valley to Mountain City and from Backbone Rock Recreational Area to over Cross Mountain.

The participants were: Ron Carrico/Rob Biller , Wallace Coffey/Andy Jones/John Moyle, Rick Knight/Bill Grigsby/Dianne Draper , Tom McNeil/Don Holt.

Notes: High winds kept the birds tight in the underbrush most of the day. Afternoon sun and slight relief of wind helped to bring out birds a little bit. The average for all the parties was 40.25, but there was enough variety to bump the count species total to 61. Tough birding!

My personal thanks go out to all the birders and area leaders. It was a brutal day to bird and we still came out with a descent count.

Count Totals:

Total Species : 61
Total Car Hours : 18.25
Total Foot Hours : 16
Total Car Hours : 204.8
Total Foot Miles : 7
Total Owling Miles : 13
Total Owling Hours : 3

Weather:
High 41
Low 29
Wind - High and steady from SW, Gust to 30.5 mph
Ponds - partly frozen
Rain/Snow - none

Total Bird Species

Legend:
C -Ron Carrico's party
Co - Wallace Coffey's Party
K - Rick Knight's Party
M - Tom McNeil's Party

HC - High Count
LC - Low Count
US - Unusual Species

Count 106 2005/2006
Count 105 2004/2005
Count 104 2003/2004
Count 103 2002/2003
Count 102 2001/2002
Count 101 2000/2001
Count 100 1999/2000
Count 99 1998/1999
Count 98 1997/1998
Count 97 1996/1997

Bird Species:

Canada Goose 178, C 0, Co 40, K 0, M 138
Wood Duck 1, C 1
Mallard 53, C 16, Co 22, K 13, M 2
Wild Turkey 51, C 0, Co 20, K 24, M 7 (HC - previous HC 38 in Count 103)
Great Blue Heron 4, C 0, Co 1, K 2, M 1
Black Vulture 51, C 2, Co 2, K 32, M 15 (HC - previous HC 15 in Count 102)
Turkey Vulture 52 C 4, Co 3, K 5, M 40 (HC - previous HC 33 in Count 104)
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1, M 1
Cooper's Hawk 2, C 0, Co 1, K 1, M 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 1, C 1
Red-tailed Hawk 11, C 1, Co 0, K 5, M 5 (Ties HC of 11 in Count 101)
American Kestrel 14, C 1, Co 2, K 8, M 3
Merlin 1, M 1 (US - paperwork will be submitted)
Wilson's Snipe 1, C 1
Rock Pigeon 42, C 0, Co 0, K 30, M 12
Mourning Dove 149, C 25, Co 55, K 10, M 59
Eastern Screech Owl 5, C 3, Co 1, K 1, M 0
Great Horned Owl 1, Co 1
Belted Kingfisher 10, C 0, Co 0, K 4, M 6 (HC - previous HC 9 in Count 98)
Red-bellied Woodpecker 5, C 0, Co 3, K 2, M 0
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2, M 2
Downy Woodpecker 10, C 0, Co 3, K 4, M 3
Hairy Woodpecker 5, C 2, Co 0, K 2, M 1
Northern Flicker 7, C 2, Co 1, K 2. 2
Pileated Woodpecker 6, C 2, Co 1, K 3, M 0
Eastern Phoebe 7, C 1, Co 2, K 2, M 2
Blue Jay 77, C 13, Co 13, K 24, M 27
American Crow 1092, C 277, Co 521, K 165, M 129
Common Raven 4, C 0, Co 0, K 3, M 1
Carolina Chickadee 85, C 20, Co 22, K 21, M 22
Tufted Titmouse 44, C 8, Co 13, K 4, M 19
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1, C 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 20, C 2, Co 8, K 3, M 7
Brown Creeper 1, Co 1
Carolina Wren 58, C 7, Co 10, K 33, M 8
Winter Wren 6, C 2, Co 0, 4, M 0 (HC - previous HC 4 in Count 99)
Golden-crowned Kinglet 41, C 22, Co 6, K 6, M 7
Eastern Bluebird 62, C 15, Co 14, K 9, M 24
Hermit Thrush 3, C 0, Co 1, K 1, M 1
American Robin 4, C 0, Co 0, K 2, M 2
Northern Mockingbird 19, C 5, Co 1, K 6, M 7 (near HC - HC of 20 in Count 100)
European Starling 437, C 82, Co 177, K 85, M 93
American Pipit 25, C 25
Cedar Waxwing 24, C 24
Yellow-rumped Warbler 10, C 0, Co 1, K 5, M 4
Eastern Towhee 13, C 3, Co 0, K 10, M 0
Chipping Sparrow 8, M 8 (HC - previous HC 6 in Count 105)
Field Sparrow 5, C 0, Co 2, K 0, M 3
Savannah Sparrow 1, C 1
Song Sparrow 188, C 36, Co 52, K 32, M 68
Swamp Sparrow 9, C 0, Co 3, K 0, M 6
White-throated Sparrow 78, C 3, Co 24, K 27, M 24
White-crowned Sparrow 41 C 2, Co 0, K 19, M 20
Dark-eyed Junco 80, C 16, Co 7, K 6, M 51
Northern Cardinal 86, C 14, Co 24, K 16, M 42
Red-winged Blacbird 150, C 150 (HC - previous HC 77 in Count 100)
Eastern Meadowlark 3, C 2, Co 1 (LC)
Rusty Blackbird 25, Co 25
House Finch 19, C 0, Co 10, K 0, M 9
American Goldfinch 69 C 26, Co 10, K 12, M 21
House Sparrow 68, C 0, Co 42, K 15, M 11

Total species: 61
Total Birds Counted: 3526

Group Totals: C 37, Co 40, K 41, M 43

4/30/05

Area Leader Tom McNeil and birders Rob Biller and Michele Glass. This is the 2nd or 3rd straight year I have gone witih Tom in the Butler / Mountain City area of Carter / Johnson County. Here is our final list:

Canada Goose 22+
Wood Duck 3
Mallard 5
Red-breasted Merganser 5
Ruffed Grouse 2
Wild Turkey 1
Double-creasted Cormorant 4
Great Blue Heron 2
Green Heron 3
Black Vulture 3
Turkey Vulture 21+
Osprey 5
Broad-winged Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Killdeer 2+
Solitary Sandpiper 38
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Wilson's Snipe 3
Ring-billed Gull 7
Caspian Tern 2

Complete List:

Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 19+
Chimney Swift 3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 11
Belted Kingfisher 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 4
Northern Flicker 8
Pileated Woodpecker 12
Eastern Phoebe 11+
Great-crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 3
White-eyed Vireo 3
Yellow-throated Vireo 1
Blue-headed Vireo 28+
Red-eyed Vireo 5+
Blue Jay 15+
American Crow 40+
Tree Swallow 10+
Northern Rough-wing Swallow 34+
Cliff Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 4
Carolina Chickadee 6+
Tufted Titmouse 7+
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 2
Carolina Wren 4+
House Wren 5+
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 20+
Wood Thrush 7
American Robin 74+
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 7
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling 30+
Northern Parula 12
Yellow Warbler 7
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 10+
Black-throated Green Warbler 34+
Blackburnian Warbler 1
Yellow-throated Warbler 6
Pine Warbler 2
Black and White Warbler 7
American Redstart 2
Worm-eating Warbler 2
Ovenbird 22
Louisana Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 9
Hooded Warbler 66+
Scarlet Tanager 11
Eastern Towhee 27+
Chipping Sparrow 8
Field Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 32+
White-throated Sparrow 7
White-crowned Sparrow 2
Dark-eyed Junco 8
Northern Cardinal 20+
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 4+
Indigo Bunting 12
Red-winged Blackbird 200+
Eastern Meadowlark 22
Common Grackle 10+
Brown-headed Cowbird 6
Orchard Oriole 2
House Finch 4
Pine Siskin 9
American Goldfinch 253+
House Sparrow 5