Anonymous 4/9/18 Anonymous 4/9/18

The Grayson Bald Eagles are Back!

One of the pair headed back to the nest across the New River.

The Bald Eagles are back! The Grayson county Bald Eagle nest is active again this year! BRDC staff are happy to report that a pair of Bald Eagles have two nestlings along the New River in Grayson county. The nest site was discovered in 2015 and has been active every year since. Its remote location along the river limits the amount of potential human disturbance and with several juvenile eagles seen around the location over the years it seems that it has been a successful location. Bald Eagles have made a wonderful comeback over the past couple of decades with over 1,000 active nests in Virginia alone. As a large raptor which specializes in eating fish, most of the known nests are adjacent to the Virginia coast and along the Chesapeake Bay. The Grayson county nest is one of only a handful that are known to be active within the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The United States national emblem since 1782, the bald eagle was listed as endangered in 1967. This iconic bird was finally delisted in 2007, however, the species is still under protection through the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. These acts prohibit the "take, possession, sale, purchase, barter, etc of eagles dead or alive."

The photographs with this blog were taken from a distance with a powerful telephoto lens to avoid disturbing the pair and their chicks.

BRDC, Admin 4/11/17 BRDC, Admin 4/11/17

Bald Eagles Nesting in Grayson County

BRDC staff recently visited the site of Grayson county's nesting bald eagles. The nest site was discovered in 2015 in a somewhat remote section of the New, with a cattle farm on one side and a steep forested slope on the other. Grayson county's large areas of wilderness, combined with the New River and extensive cattle grazing land, provides a viable habitat for the birds.

Their resurgence in Grayson county points directly to a renewal of healthy populations and the success of conservation efforts. “The eagle nest in Grayson County is a welcome sign of the recovery of our Bald Eagle population, nearly lost from the widespread use of DDT decades over 50 years ago.” (Allen Boynton, formerly with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, is now employed by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.)

This photograph was taken from a distance with a powerful telephoto lens to avoid disturbing the pair and their chicks.

Bill Dunson 8/30/16 Bill Dunson 8/30/16

Signs of Late Summer

It is possible to judge the approximate time of year at a certain location by looking at what is flowering and what the animals are doing. Here I show some typical signs of middle to late summer in SW VA at elevations of about 2000 feet.

The Turk's cap lily which has a spectacular flower is found predominantly along riparian zones of creeks in late July and early August. A much more common flower in our area is the beautiful ironweed, which flourishes in damp meadows and seems to be avoided by herbivores such as cows. It is a favorite nectar source of many butterflies and a tiger swallowtail is shown here. Another "weed" that graces our meadow edges is the green headed coneflower (Rudbeckia) that attracts many bumblebees and is quite striking when present in large groups. These species and others produce flowers of surpassing beauty completely without human intervention, except for us to leave them alone.

A flower that appears in late July through middle August, the virgin's bower, a type of Clematis, has white flowers that are extremely attractive to bees and wasps. But the apparent bee here is actually a Tachinid fly (Trichopoda) which mimics bees as a protection against predators. The "Field Guide to Insects of North America" by Eaton and Kaufman (pages 308-309) describes this remarkable fly which parasitizes leaf, squash and stink bugs. So despite the fact that this native vine is rather invasive, it provides some great opportunities to watch insects.

Bee mimic Tachinid fly Trichopoda on virgins bower

During summer I am always watching for dragonflies at our ponds and on Aug. 16 was fortunate to photograph a pair of common green darners in the "wheel" position. The male (blue abdomen) first places his sperm in the accessory genitalia on the second abdominal segment. He then grasps a female by her head with the tip of his abdomen, and she curls the tip of her abdomen up to the accessory genitalia of the male, resulting in this wheel configuration. The complexity of this and other aspects of reproduction in such primitive insects always impresses me.

Common green darners wheel position pond eight

Although most bird breeding is finished, there is still a great deal of avian activity. We are always excited to see a solitary sandpiper pass through on its annual migration from its breeding grounds in the wetlands of boreal forests in Canada to Central and South America. This bird was seen Aug. 3, 2016, and in one previous fall migration in 2014 a solitary was seen on Aug. 27. The value of even small "islands" in ponds is shown here as the sandpiper likes to perch on some rocks in our yard pond.

Although bald eagles may be seen any time of year, this bird seen July 29 along the New River in silhouette against a bright sky is apparently a juvenile, possibly about five months old. It is unclear whether it is a local eagle from a nest nearby or migrating from Florida. The young age (designated Basic 1) of the eagle is known since the ends of the secondary feathers on the back of the wings are pointed and all the same length. In the second year these feathers will be gradually molted, leading to a "saw toothed" edge, and eventually and show a smoother edge. So to identify the age of an eagle, take a photo of the extended wings from underneath.

Bald eagle juvenile Fries Junction bridge New River

Goldfinches eating thistle seeds are a clear sign of late summer. This time of year our willow flycatchers become quiet and are often seen feeding around the edges of pastures. Grasshopper sparrows prefer our neighbor's pastures and are one of the few bird species to benefit from the harsh effects of cattle grazing.

So enjoy the presence and actions of our late summer biota. Every season has its joys and it is amusing to match our predictions of seasonal changes with the actual observations.

Bill Dunson
Galax, VA and Englewood, FL

Aaron Floyd 6/28/16 Aaron Floyd 6/28/16

Blue Ridge Explorers Overnight Camp

Fourteen intrepid explorers joined BRDC for four days and three nights of adventure packed fun during the Blue Ridge Explorers Camp. We kayaked, hike Whitetop Mountain, and swam in the New River, but most importantly we learned what it means to be a Naturalist.

Fourteen intrepid explorers joined BRDC for four days and three nights of adventure packed fun during the Blue Ridge Explorers Camp.

Camp began with a Naturalist Journaling lesson to set the tone but then shifted to serious leisure with "Hammocking 101" by Joe Flowers.

Attention quickly turned to the river where we set minnow traps and did some snorkeling with Lisa Benish.

The day finished with a little Appalachian heritage lesson and a friendly competition of classic Highland's games. With a little time left after dinner we hiked to the ridge to play games, watch the sunset and catch fireflies.

That night, the skies cleared and the stars sparkled. We got out the 60x birding scope and studied the moons of jupiter. We could see Jupiter's red lines but we were all stunned at how well we could see the ring around Saturn.

The second day kicked off with a birding hike where we studied the riparian corridor of the New River. Ultimately the camp observed or heard over thirty species of birds. The most surprising find though was a gnarly male hellgrammite resting in the grass.

Upon return to camp, Joe Flowers led a basic compass navigation course and tree climbing lesson.

That afternoon we loaded into kayaks and headed for the river! The kids led a 3 hr paddle down the New, seeing a Bald Eagle nest, lighting a spark fire on an island to dry off, and discovering a Mallard nest in the weeds. They also ditched their boats and navigated the rapids on their backs to get some wet time.

After dinner it was time for some local old time tunes around the campfire! The Yates family band tuned up their instruments along the river and picked the evening away with the kids joining in the chorus! Dessert featured the camp favorite: campfire grilled banana boats!

As night approached, so did massive thunderstorms from West Virginia. The camp battened down the hatches and weathered the worst of it in the vehicles. Half the kids were enthralled by the display of lighting and thunder, the other half were terrified. They all survived the night and we let them sleep in a bit the second morning.

We began Friday with an exploration of the mixed hardwood forest where we found lots of salamanders. Drew's sharp eyes even spotted a tiny spring peeper on a leaf!

The hot and sunny day called for a swim in the river, but this time we put on life jackets and headed for Field's Dam where they kids leaned into the water gushing over the dam, floated down the rapids and leaped off the rocks. Instead of walking back to camp we floated like a big human raft downriver. At the exit Caroline found a dragonfly that had just hatched out of it's case!

Not having had enough, we packed the cars with a picnic dinner and hit the road to the second highest peak in Virginia: Whitetop Mountain. Hiking down to Buzzard's Rock we studied 1 billion year old Cranberry Gneiss, marveled at the grassland balds, searched for salamanders along the woodland slope, filled up our canteens in a spring, slipped into the fern laden spruce forest and watched the sunset from the most beautiful vista in the east!

Even after a day like that, the kids were not done. When we got back to camp they rolled their sleeping bags out on the grass to watch the stars, then begged to get the scope back out. After studying the usual suspects we turned our sights towards satellites. Reece was able to locate the international space station and two of us got to view it very clearly through the scope!

After a peaceful night's sleep the camp woke to a foggy morning and a Bald Eagle sitting on a snag across the river. After some coal baked apples for breakfast we headed out and Amelia and Caroline led us to some rocky slopes and wetland bottoms for exploration.

The camp finished up with one last swim in the river and a little bit of fly fishing. At lunch, Joe demonstrated the most traditional form of fire building: friction fire with a bow string. To put a nice cap on a great camp a bald eagle did one final soar over camp to say goodbye and the kids charged up the hill to their parents as full of energy as ever!

Scott Jackson-Ricketts 5/22/15 Scott Jackson-Ricketts 5/22/15

Nesting Bald Eagles Discovered along the New River in Grayson County, VA!

Every trip outdoors holds an opportunity for discovery, but a trip down the New River always seems to be teeming with wildlife. On this particular trip, Ellie and Roald discovered a successful nesting pair of Bald Eagles! This is a landmark discovery many of us have been looking forward to for years.

You’re out weeding your garden, perhaps hiking the New River Trail, or just driving along any of our country roads when suddenly you spy a raptor overhead, stretched out like a board, a nine and a half pound bird with a wing span of 80 inches, its white head and tail sealing the identification, a graceful marriage of bird and sky. Take another look if you can, and savor the moment. Fortunately for residents of Grayson County, Virginia, this moment is becoming less rare. Many of us have been increasingly rewarded with sightings of these majestic eagles in southwest Virginia as their population continues to rebound from a low in 1971*. But not everyone, or more accurately, almost no one expects to see a bald eagle nest around here. Yet that is exactly what happened to Ellie and Roald Kirby of Blue Ridge Discovery Center as they paddled down a quiet section of the New River one recent lazy afternoon.

Here is an account from Ellie Kirby: “On May 3rd my husband Roald and I were floating down the New River in a canoe. Roald had brought his fishing rod but he wasn’t doing any serious fishing as we drifted along. It was a still morning, and we had the river to ourselves. As we were enjoying the peaceful serenity of the water and admiring the lush greens of early spring, we saw a bird soaring above the river. At first we thought it might be a vulture, which are so common here, but then we saw its white head and knew it was a bald eagle. Another eagle came gliding near the first. The pair didn’t fly very high, and soon one of them perched in a hillside tree. As we wondered why they didn’t fly away, we happened to glance at an island on the other side of the river and saw a big nest in the top of a large sycamore tree. Roald said, “I think there’s a bird in the nest…I can see a head!” We floated on down below the tree to get a better view and to our delight, standing there in the nest was a large, all-dark bird that had to be a baby eagle! We back-paddled a little and spent a few moments taking photos, then moved on down the river. We didn’t linger because the parents seemed perturbed at our presence, and we didn’t want to cause any more distress to this eagle family.”

From Virginia Society of Ornithology records research and conversation with wildlife officers, we have concluded that this is the first documented active bald eagle nest in Grayson County for 100 years. We have heard that bald eagles have been nesting below Byllesby and Buck Dams, and though adjacent to Grayson, that section of the New is in Carroll County. In general, the increase in bald eagle sightings in Grayson has concentrated along the New, from Fries to Mouth of Wilson. This resurgence points directly to a renewal of healthy populations and the success of conservation efforts. “The newly-discovered eagle nest in Grayson County is a welcome sign of the recovery of our Bald Eagle population, nearly lost from the widespread use of DDT decades over 50 years ago.” (Allen Boynton, formerly with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, is now employed by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.)

The nest was discovered in a somewhat remote section of the New, with a cattle farm on one side and a steep forested slope on the other. Grayson contains a considerable amount of wilderness areas, private, state and national. Combine that with extensive cattle grazing lands, and a picture of viable habitat for the bald eagles emerges.

"Every trip outdoors holds an opportunity for discovery, but a trip down the New River always seems to be teeming with wildlife. On this particular trip, Ellie and Roald discovered a successful nesting pair of Bald Eagles! This is a landmark discovery many of us have been looking forward to for years." - Aaron Floyd, Executive Director of Blue Ridge Discovery Center

Without the parents flying around, hardly a soul would think to wonder about the presence of a nest. We are in debt to the Kirbys for their sharp observational skills. Through the hard work of birders and other outdoor enthusiasts, it was only a matter of time for this, the first definitive documentation of an active eagle nest, to come to our attention.

The nest will be documented through the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Center for Conservation Biology. The Virginia Society of Ornithology has also been contacted.

Life history in brief: bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

Most people know about the use, and subsequent ban in 1972, of the pesticide DDT in the United States, defined by the EPA as a persistent bioaccumulative. Attention was drawn to this toxin by Rachel Carson in her seminal work, Silent Spring. One dramatic outcome of the buildup of DDT in the food chain is the thinning of bird shells, especially those of fish consumers. The thin shells cannot support the weight of incubating parents. From 1950 until 1971, the bald eagle’s population plummeted along with other bird species such as the osprey and peregrine falcon. Only after DDT was banned, and slowly over the course of 30 years, were populations returning to viable numbers and showing signs of stabilization.
In Virginia, from 1972 to 1977 the count on breeding bald eagle pairs came to 33, with 32 restricted to the coastal area. In 1986, records show 66 breeding pairs, and by 2001, 330 pairs. There are now over 11,000 nesting pairs in the continental US and the Bald Eagle was removed from the endangered species list in 2007. They still have protection thanks to the Bald & Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940. "Amercian Eagle Day" celebrates this iconic bird on June 20th the day America added the Bald Eagle as the main image in its national emblem in 1782.
“For all the years (1986-2014 - minus 2011 when the Parkway was closed) in which the hawk count has been carried out at Mahogany Rock for the Hawk Migration Association of North America, an average of 14 Bald Eagles a year have passed along or over the Blue Ridge at the Mahogany Rock Overlook at Milepost 235 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. What is particularly significant is the change in yearly count numbers of Bald Eagles over this 28-year count period. For the first ten years of the count the average number of Bald Eagles was only 2.3 with only 0 or 1 eagles passing each year for the first six years. The yearly average for the second ten year period was 8.4. And for the latest 8 years of the count the yearly average was 18. The change in this yearly average demonstrates the dramatic recovery of Bald Eagles from the persecution of pesticides, shooting and habitat loss eagles experienced for most of the 20th century.” - Jim Keighton
(Compiler of the Mahogany Rock Hawk Count for Blue Ridge Birders and the Hawk Migration Association of North America)

In the mountains of Virginia, the bald eagle is labeled as an uncommon transient, winter visitor, rare in summer, more often seen in the fall migration event. According to the Virginia Society of Ornithology’s 4th edition of Virginia Birdlife (S Rottenborn and E Brinkley), recent breeding records have been documented at Lake Moomaw, and Rockbridge and Shenandoah counties. The Center for Conservation Biology has documented Virginia nesting pairs below Claytor Lake, along the New River in Narrows, in Burkes Garden and on the banks of Watagua Lake.
Preferred bald eagle nesting sites are situated near water, especially coastal, marshes, rivers, large lakes and spillways. They build substantial stick nests, lined with finer materials, in a tall tree with a major fork, often in an open area. Bald eagles hold the world record for the largest bird nest, with one in Florida measuring 6.1 meters deep, 2.9 meters wide, and weighing in at 2,722 kg (almost 3 tons)! A single nest can be used for 35 years. They show nest fidelity, adding to it over the course of many years. Adult pairs show similar fidelity, with well recognized long term bonding.
At one brood/year they lay from 1 to 3 eggs, with 2 being the expected average. Partly because of the asynchronal hatch, the smaller hatchling usually perishes. It takes a full four years for the young to mature into the white head and tail molt. The bald eagle diet mainly consists of fish, but other birds and small mammals will do in a pinch. They are also known to indulge in scavenging carrion and stealing food from other birds, especially the osprey.

- Scott Jackson-Ricketts

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Sources:
Virginia Birdlife (mentioned above)
Bird Watcher’s Companion, C Leahy
Essential Field Guide Companion, P Dunne
The Birder’s Handbook, P Ehrlich, D Dobkin and D Wheye
http://www.ccbbirds.org/maps/#eagles

Devin Floyd 12/17/10 Devin Floyd 12/17/10

Bald Eagle sighting, a mating pair?

Bald Eagle,

Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Date:

December 17, 2010

Time:

12:00pm-12:10pm

Location:

Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, below the Field's Dam at the confluence of Fox Creek and the New River. (Lat/Lon: 36.602951, -81.307705)

Elevation:

2460 feet

Weather:

temperature is on the rise after a two week period of extreme cold and moderate to light snow.

On my way to Mouth of Wilson

, at around noon, two giant birds caught my eye. I had just crossed over the bridge where Fox Creek empties into the New River. After hitting the brakes and spilling a soda on the floor, I pulled over and watched. The adult eagles were taking turns swooping down, coming within inches of a bird in the water. Every minute or so they would perch on the trees along the south side of the river. A crow passed through, heading upstream, and one eagle dove into hot pursuit. It made chase up to the dam and returned. After diving down at a water bird several more times

I did not make an ID on that bird, but it dove under the water on occasions; cormorant sized, with dark plumage. I noticed at Aviatlas.com that a double-crested cormorant has been spotted near this locality before

(during the month of October).

The pair of eagles departed together. They flew southwest, up stream, and then turned south toward Piney Creek, NC

(very high in the sky but almost directly over 93)

Maybe one day someone will find a nest!

I continued west on 58, admiring the up-thrust sheets of ice about to spill over the banks of the New River (this reminded me of last year's amazing January ice event:

Icebergs

Bill Dunson 1/14/10 Bill Dunson 1/14/10

The tranquility of Nature- NOT!

A story from Bill Dunson of three species that frequent the woods and river valleys of the Blue Ridge highlands. Have you ever considered these types of interactions?

There can sometimes be great drama in the lives of birds as well as humans, as we have been observing a pair of ospreys and their tormentors, a pair of great horned owls.

We have not directly observed all the specific interactions of these two wonderful species, but can surmise what must be happening. It appears that the owls drove a pair of ospreys from their nest and occupied it (see photo of owl's head just above the edge of the nest). Then the ospreys moved further down the island at Stump Pass State Park and built another nest (see photo) and seemed to be happily engaged in domestic bliss. But just yesterday it appeared that the osprey pair had left the nest and were flying around somewhat distraught. The male was carrying a stick and chasing the female and no one was minding the nest. We are afraid that something may have happened to the baby ospreys or the eggs; perhaps the owls are involved or not- we do not know.

A pair of bald eagles also moved from a nearby nest site occupied last year and built a new nest in a tall Norfolk Island pine just north of the owls, where all seems to be well, except that here we can see in a great photo by Paula Kaye that an immature eagle is harassing the adult on the nest! Eagles also have quite a lot of trouble from owls themselves but in this case junior may want to inherit Mom's territory or maybe is just curious about what married life is like.

So when we might think sometimes about how wonderful and stress-free the lives of animals wild and free in nature must be- think again! Life is a struggle, perhaps for creatures great and small?

Bill Dunson

Englewood, FL