HIGH COUNTRY HOOTS High Country Audubon Society - Serving Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Watauga, and Wilkes Counties March/April - 2010 Volume 2, Issue 1 LOOKING FORWARD TO SPRING AFTER AN UNFORGETTABLE CALENDAR OF EVENTS WINTER March Most High Country residents are impending arrival of spring. The first 21 TVA Lakes Field Trip 9:00 a.m. describing the winter of 2009-2010 as hint of things to come happened in one of the worst, if not the worst, early March when Janet Palmer April they have ever experienced. While spotted Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Blue- some snow was recorded in headed Vireo, and Black-and-white 18-19 Stecoah Gap And Joyce Kilmer TBD Memorial Forest Field Trip November, the winter really started Warbler at Trout Lake. off with a bang in late December. 20 Monthly Meeting at Coop Ext. 6:30 p.m. December 18-20 brought close to two May feet of snow to the North Carolina 18 Monthly Meeting at Coop. Ext. 6:30 p.m. High Country and a Christmas ice storm paralyzed the area causing many 23 Wagoner Property Field Trip TBD people to be stuck in their homes and without power for days. June The following months brought much 15 Monthly Meeting at Coop. Ext. 6:30 p.m. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher more snow and extended periods of 19 B.R. Wildlife Institute Field Trip TBD bitterly cold temperatures. Many Photo courtesy of www.allaboutbirds.org people wondered if they would ever A $5 donation is requested with field trip attendance. As the weather gets warmer, don’t see their yards again and shoveling All events and meeting times are subject to change. forget to take advantage of the snow became a daily occurrence for For updated information please visit Watauga Birding Hotline (828-265- http://highcountryaudubon.org. others. High Country Audubon 0198) which gives the latest birds Society’s February meeting was seen in the area. cancelled due to the winter weather. FUN FACTS Since the February meeting was Virginia Rail cancelled, the group watched an episode of Tom Earnhardt’s Exploring North Carolina during the March meeting on March 16. The A pair found in Meat Camp was the first confirmed breeding pair episode was titled “Passion for the in Western North Carolina. Land” and focused on Hugh Morton, Rails are precocial chicks but asynchronous hatchers, meaning his tireless advocacy and his that the male comes to the nest each day to collect that day’s conservation efforts. hatchling and the female stays and keeps incubating the rest until Photo by Monty Combs the whole clutch hatches (which can be a week or more). The monthly meeting on April 20 will The forehead feathers of the Virginia Rail are adapted to with- As of mid-March, Ray’s Weather is stand wear from pushing through dense marsh vegetation. reporting a total of 82.90 inches of snow measured in Boone and a The bird can swim under water, propelling itself with its wings. whopping 131.3 inches for Beech It swims in this way probably only to flee predators. Mountain. Perhaps there is a light at The Virginia Rail and other rail species have the highest ratio of the end of the tunnel though! leg muscles to flight muscles of any birds. Curtis Smalling reports that as The Virginia Rail builds numerous “dummy nests” in addition to temperatures are starting to moderate Photo by Jesse Pope the one where eggs are actually laid. and the snow is melting, a lot of birds Info and picture found on http://www.birds.cornell.edu. Additional info are on the move and feeling the Continued on Page 2 from Curtis Smalling. LOOKING FORWARD TO SPRING CONT. focus on wildflowers. A representative from the Watauga County Extension office will also be discussing the Master Gardener Program. This volunteer PO Box 3746 program is designed to train citizens in numerous aspects of practical Boone, NC 28607 horticulture. http://highcountryaudubon.org E-mail: [email protected] We hope to see everyone at the meeting in April and we hope you enjoy spring and the wonderful birding that it brings! High Country Audubon Society Board TVA LAKES FIELD TRIP MARCH 21 Jesse Pope - President, Field Trips & Social Events Chair Anita Clemmer - Vice President On Sunday, March 21, members of High Country Audubon Society will Janet Palmer - Secretary journey to three of the Tennessee Valley Authority lakes. Wilbur Lake, Doris Ratchford - Treasurer Watauga Lake and South Holston Lake will be some of the sites that the group visits. HCAS members will be guided by Rick Knight of the Bristol Bob Cherry - Conservation & Education Chair Bird Club, an expert birder in that area. Those on the trip will meet Rick at Bettie Bond the 421 boat ramp at 9 a.m. Carpool arrangements are being made by e- Martha Cutler mail. Donald Mullaney HCAS President Jesse Pope plans for the group to bird for four hours Mary Carol Ochipa around South Holston Lake before heading over to Watauga and Wilbur Rosalind Pevsner Lakes to finish out the rest of the day. Stewart Skeate WILBUR LAKE Sue Wells Wilbur Lake is on the Watauga River in northeast Tennessee and is sur- rounded by some of the most beautiful country. The water is surrounded High Country Hoots is published six times a year by the High by the Cherokee National Forest and flanked by the Appalachians. Country Audubon Society, a chapter of National Audubon. Local members receive the newsletter via electronic mail. It is The site is probably best known for its wintering ducks. Bufflehead may also archived on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ number over 200. Smaller numbers of Mallard, American Black Duck, Gad- highcountryaudubon. wall, Ring-necked Duck and Lesser Scaup can usually be seen. One or two Bald Eagles often winter at Wilbur Lake. Spring brings transient and nesting warblers, vireos and thrushes to the Lake. According to the 2004 TVA River and Reservoir Wilbur Lake Operations Study, Wa- tauga Lake is approxi- Photo Courtesy of mately 16.3 miles long, Tennessee Valley with 104.9 miles of Authority shoreline. At the TVA summertime water level Watauga Dam target “full pool,” the Photo Courtesy of lake surface covers 6,430 Two hydroelectric generating units were installed at Wilbur Dam when it www.wataugalaketennessee.com acres and the estimated was completed in 1912. A third was added in 1926 and a fourth was added depth of Watauga Lake is 265 feet at the dam. At full pool, by TVA when it acquired the dam in 1945. The dam is 77 feet high and Watauga’s elevation is the highest of all TVA lakes at 1,959 stretches 375 feet across the Watauga River. feet above sea level. WATAUGA LAKE The Watauga Lake Dam is an earthern structure—331 feet Watauga Lake, located southeast of Elizabethton, Tennessee, was created by high, 925 feet long and 1,275 feet thick at its base. The dam the TVA. Construction of the Watauga Dam began in early 1942 but was includes 350 million cubic yards of material. Building Wa- curtailed later that year in favor of other wartime building efforts. Work on tauga Lake incurred 10,274,559 man hours of labor. One the TVA Watauga Dam resumed in 1946, and finished at the end of 1948, man lost his life during Watauga’s construction and 48 oth- impounding both the Watauga River and Elk River for the purposes of flood, ers were injured. hydropower generation and downstream navigation on the Tennessee River There are several conjectured meanings of “Watauga”: and Reservoir system. TVA LAKES FIELD TRIP CONT. “beautiful waters”, “clear wa- dam into Virginia. Construc- water during drier periods. Dam. Loons, grebes, ducks, ters”, “whispering waters”, tion of the dam began in 1942, gulls and Bald Eagle may be seen The South Fork Holston River is “river of plenty”, and more. but like the Watauga Dam, it in winter, with Osprey in migra- home to an annual spring migra- halted for other wartime ef- tion. This site is also best known for tion of white bass. Locals say forts. Building resumed in 1947 wintering ducks. In the spring, that when the serviceberry and The weir is located about a mile and was completed in 1950. Yellow-throated Warblers nest dogwood bloom, the white bass downstream from the dam. At in tall pines along the lakeshore. In 1991, TVA built a weir below run. the main parking lot for the Great Horned Owl (year South Holston Dam to add weir, scan for wintering ducks. round) and Whip-poor-will oxygen to the river when the Buffleheads are usually the most (spring and summer) may be hydropower isn’t generating numerous, but also look for heard at night. Wild turkeys electricity. Oxygen-rich water Mallard, American Wigeon, also occur regularly. helps create a sustained habitat Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked The Weir at South Holston for aquatic insects, vegetation Duck, Lesser Scaup, Redhead SOUTH HOLSTON Reservoir and fish. (mainly late winter) and Ruddy RESERVOIR Photo Courtesy of Tennessee Valley Duck. Once a Harlequin Duck South Holston is operated for Authority was found on the upper reaches. South Holston Reservoir is on several purposes, including Yellow throated Warbler and the South Fork Holston River flood damage reduction, power Ruffled Grouse are occasionally Northern Parula nest there in in northeast Tennessee. It production, aquatic ecology and seen beside the road heading up winter. extends 24 miles east of the augmentation of the flow of to the top of South Holston APRIL EVENT DETAILS 2010 THE STATE OF THE BIRDS REPORT ON CLIMATE CHANGE Overnight Trip to Stecoah Gap and Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest On March 11, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar released the 2010 Sunday, April 18 - Monday, April 19 State of the Birds Report, showing that climate change will have an Stecoah Gap is a cove forest in Graham County, NC.