[TN-Bird] Re: evening grosbeaks..
- From: Kevin Breault <Kevin.Breault@xxxxxxxx>
- To: "jreese5@xxxxxxx" <jreese5@xxxxxxx>, "tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 13 May 2012 03:19:16 +0000
I remember finding them quite often in all but the summer months at the
secondary school I attended (early '70s) in east-central Vermont, and even had
one as a pet as I cared for it after an injury, but I am told they are much
less common there now and in the East more generally. Look for them in numbers
in Canada, the mountain West and Northwest (in the last ten years I have had
them in Manitoba, NH (northern), NV and UT). Still hoping one will end up on my
mountain in Williamson County some winter's day. Unfortunately, unlike the
grosbeak, the chances for another snake encounter are considerably better. With
your recent experience at the hospital I would think orders of magnitude
better. Better to be safe.
Kevin Breault
Brentwood, TN
________________________________
From: tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] on behalf of
Reese, Carol [jreese5@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2012 3:52 PM
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [TN-Bird] evening grosbeaks..
Wish I had known the sightings of evening grosbeaks were so rare when I saw the
noisy flocks a couple of years ago, I would have put out more word. They were
in a big rolling field in Chester County near Luray, and they would lift and
fall across the field. It was the one and only time I have ever seen them. I
now live in northern Chester County, much different terrain, so it may have
remain my one and only time.
After doing more reading on evening grosbeak, I see that they are very nomadic
and not likely to turn up in the same places each year, but just in case, here
are the details. Even if you don’t see evening grosbeaks, it was a fabulous
place to ramble whether your interest is plants or birds.
The field in Luray is just southwest of Luray, a 550 acre field now owned by
the state and is affiliated with the Pinson tree seedling nursery. The original
nursery near Pinson borders the Pinson Mound State Park and every time they
tried to do some field work at the nursery, they unearthed native American
relics and would have to stop. They decided to acquire a different property,
and this field near Luray is the new site. If anyone lives nearby, the locked
gate can be found on Island Road. They were always quite willing to let me roam
the property, and seem to be conscientious land stewards. I noticed when they
mowed the acreage, they avoided lots of the plants that were good wildlife
plants, plum, persimmon, even the many brilliant clumps of butterfly weed. They
did remove a great deal of the sumac, however, which was haven and food for so
many birds. In winter, especially, I would see many many bluebirds,
mockingbirds, cardinals, and brown thrashers feeding on the sumac. This is a
field I always called Maypop Hill, because it had so many Passiflora incarnata,
and is the only place I have seen it in three forms – one has fruit the typical
egg shape, another was much elongated and oblong, and the other a squatty
sphere, more the shape of a fat little pumpkin. The rolling field drops
precipitously off to the big Luray swamp – the one you cross just south of
Luray, and this steep drop area is densely wooded, so there is such a wide
range of habitat. The creek (straightened channel as it goes west,
unfortunately) that runs through there always had resident kingfishers, and I
think I saw every possible woodpecker there, some nesting in the dead snags in
the swamp. Plenty of water moccasins as you might expect, so be wary, though I
often roamed in sandals and shorts. BTW, bitten on the ankle by a copperhead
snake two weeks ago on a ramble on my new property in hilly north Henderson
County, and spent three nights in the hospital. It was much more of an ordeal
than I would have dreamed, since I never thought a copperhead’s bite would have
serious consequences. Also blew my longstanding belief that if you are minding
your own business, snakes won’t bite you. This one did, with no warning and no
provocation. I can only surmise that stopping to snip some towering blackberry
vines out of the path made the snake think he had been seen. I probably would
have been allowed to pass if I had kept moving. But who knows what goes on in a
snake’s brain?
Though scolded by family and friends, and told to be more cautious, I can’t
help but think, what are the chances I would be bitten twice? Can’t be afraid
if I’m not…
I will warn you to take it seriously. I thought about taking a Benadryl and
lying down for a bit, but it turned out later that going to the hospital was
the better idea.
"There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot."
— Aldo Leopold<http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/43828.Aldo_Leopold>
Carol Reese
Ornamental Horticulture Specialist -Western District
University of Tennessee Extension Service
605 Airways Blvd.
Jackson TN 38301
731 425 4767 email jreese5@xxxxxxx<mailto:jreese5@xxxxxxx>
Other related posts:
