VOLUME 33, NUMBER 10 JULY 2002

The annual Warioto Audubon Chapter’s summer picnic will be held Saturday, July 13 at Dunbar Cave State Natural Area. We plan to gather at the cave mouth about 6:00 p.m. and with the intention of eating at 6:30. This is a potluck picnic, so you are asked to bring food (main course, salad, dessert) to share with others. Please bring serving utensils for the dishes you bring. Drinks, plates, eating utensils, and napkins will be provided. Hope to see YOU there!!

Our next Warioto Audubon meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. on September 5, 2002. If all goes as planned, the board will meet at 7:00 p.m. in the D-125 (Biology Conf. Rm.) and the regular meeting will be held E-106B of the Sundquist Science Building. Look for final details on this meeting in the September newsletter.

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Last month Richard Kirk of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) gave a presentation about TWRA’s threatened and endangered species program. Richard showed us slides of the many species the agency is currently working to recover in the state. He pointed out how the majority of threatened and endangered animal species are aquatic and includes animals such as snails, freshwater mussels, and fishes. While many are obscure species that most people have rarely if ever heard about, such as the many endangered species of freshwater mussels, they often have fascinating life histories that we are just beginning to appreciate as they receive more study in our efforts to save them. As examples, Richard illustrated several of the various anatomical and behavioral adaptations used by some freshwater mussel species to lure fish close enough to be infected by their parasitic larval offspring. Richard also talked about elk reintroduction program and the efforts to establish a second migratory flock of Whooping Cranes in the eastern US. These whoopers will migrate through Tennessee when they migrate between Wisconsin and Florida each year.

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One nice thing about writing the conservation letter is there is never a dearth of material to choose from. One of the most compelling issues currently before congress is the issue of exempting the Department of Defense (DOD) from the environmental laws to which all other government agencies must adhere. The House of Representatives provided DOD the exemption in its Defense Authorization Bill and the Senate did not. Now it must be decided in conference committee. If this exemption is granted DOD will be able to kill birds and destroy habitat without regard for long standing conservation laws including protecting migratory birds and endangered species. There is still time to let your elected representatives know your views on this issue. Let’s not "throw the baby out with the bath water." Sure the DOD needs to be able to undertake its training and preparations as best is possible, but what is it we are fighting for anyway. Part of what we fight to preserve in this country includes preservation of species and special natural places as well as the ideal that we should all be equal under the law. It would be very shortsighted to act as though we are in such a desperate situation that we must sacrifice some of our most cherished resources and ideals in order to better protect ourselves from terrorism.

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International Migratory Bird Day was May 11, 2002. Warioto Audubon held its Montgomery County spring bird count in conjunction with this event. Gloria Milliken compiled the count. Field observers included Joe Allen, Elaine Foust, Jim Giocomo, Joe, Joyce, Andrew and Matthew Hall, Debbie and Steve Hamilton, Ken Haskin, Heather Hollis, Rebecca Houtman, Gloria and Bill Milliken, Daniel Moss, Sallie Noel, Joe and Sally Schiller, David Snyder, and George Wade. Neighborhood/yard observers were Danielle and Paul Evans, Annie Heilman, Thurston Lee, and Louise Podell. This was and excellent turn-out for this event.

For a commentary on the count, see Joe Allen’s article in the June 27, 2002 Leaf-Chronicle. This year we recorded 132 species on the count day and two more were seen during count week. Last years total was 135 species, 2000 recorded 122, 1999 equaled this years result (132) and 1998 was 135. A total of 7,610 individual were observed. Again this year there were some interesting observations. So that you can compare this count to the 2001 count, I have bolded the species found this year but not last year and struck through those found in 2001 but not seen in the 2002 count.

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Great Blue Heron 23

Green Heron 6

Canada Goose 76

Wood Duck 30

Mallard 18

Black Vulture 70

Turkey Vulture 93

Bald Eagle 1

Sharp-shinned Hawk 2

Cooper’s Hawk 3

Red-shouldered Hawk 6

Broad-winged Hawk 1

Red-tailed Hawk 14

American Kestrel 9

Wild Turkey 12

Northern Bobwhite 91

American Coot 1

Killdeer 65

American Woodcock 1

Solitary Sandpiper 1

Spotted Sandpiper 4

Ring-billed Gull 1

Rock Dove 91

Mourning Dove 255

Yellow-billed Cuckoo 22

Great-horned Owl 1

Barred Owl 8

Common Nighthawk 8

Chuck-will’s-widow 1

Whip-poor-will 8

Chimney Swift 75

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 24

Belted Kingfisher 5

Red-headed Woodpecker 13

Red-bellied Woodpecker 66

Downy Woodpecker 19

Hairy Woodpecker 13

Northern Flicker 18

Pileated Woodpecker 9

Eastern Wood-Peewee 67

Acadian Flycatcher 20

Eastern Phoebe 33

Great Crested Flycatcher 60

Eastern Kingbird 65

Horned Lark 4

Purple Martin 69

Tree Swallow 4

Northern Rough-winged Swallow 97

Cliff Swallow 388

Barn Swallow 191

Blue Jay 154

American Crow 226

Carolina Chickadee 45

Tufted Titmouse 81

White-breasted Nuthatch 23

Carolina Wren 98

House Wren 11

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 85

Eastern Bluebird 232

Swainson’s Thrush 15

Hermit Thrush 1

Wood Thrush 28

American Robin 447

Gray Catbird 4

Northern Mockingbird 245

Brown Thrasher 67

Cedar Waxwing 172

Loggerhead Shrike 1

European Starling 482

White-eyed Vireo 56

Blue-headed Vireo 2

Yellow-throated Vireo 8

Warbling Vireo 16

Red-eyed Vireo 32

Tennessee Warbler 69

Northern Parula 25

Yellow Warbler 20

Chestnut-sided Warbler 14

Magnolia Warbler 1

Black-throated Blue Warbler 5

Yellow-rumped Warbler 5

Black-throated Green Warbler 1

Yellow-throated Warbler 12

Pine Warbler 8

Prairie Warbler 58

Palm Warbler 9

Bay-breasted Warbler 2

Blackpoll Warbler 3

American Redstart 5

Prothonotary Warbler 21

Ovenbird 1

Louisiana Waterthrush 6

Kentucky Warbler 19

Common Yellowthroat 89

Yellow-breasted Chat 56

Summer Tanager 30

Scarlet Tanager 16

Northern Cardinal 345

Rose-breasted Grosbeak 18

Blue Grosbeak 10

Indigo Bunting 215

Dickcissel 116

Eastern Towhee 114

Chipping Sparrow 74

Field Sparrow 114

Grasshopper Sparrow 32

Song Sparrow 6

Swamp Sparrow 1

White-crowned Sparrow CW

Bobolink 88

Red-winged Blackbird 289

Eastern Meadowlark 206

Common Grackle 226

Brown-headed Cowbird 82

Orchard Oriole 32

Baltimore Oriole 3

House Finch 87

American Goldfinch 205

House Sparrow 114