Hummingbird Festival Featured on Tennessee Wild Side

The Wonder of Hummingbirds Festival is featured on Tennessee Wild Side, an Emmy Award winning television production produced by the Renaissance Center.  Enjoy this enchanting program about the festival, its activities and the main star, hummingbirds!

The festival is co-sponsored by the Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society and Ijams Nature Center.  The 2014 festival will be held on Saturday, August 23rd.  Mark your calendar!

KTOS is a non-profit organization that promotes the enjoyment, scientific study and conservation of birds. Ijams Nature Center seeks to increase knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the natural world by providing quality environmental education and nature related experiences.

Links and resources:
More about the festival:  Wonder of Hummingbirds Festival
More about hummingbird banding and hummingbirds on this blog
Mark Armstrong
Ruby-throated hummingbirds
Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society
Tennessee Wild Side
Ijams Nature Center

TN Sandhill Crane Festival Celebrates Three Crane Species

Make plans to join us at the Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival, January 14th and 15th at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge and celebrate three crane species!  

Photo credit: Mike Nelson (see links below).  A Greater Sandhill Crane flying over the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge.

The Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge has had a rare visitor that has stirred excitement in the bird-watching world.  A Hooded crane, native to Asia, has found its way to the refuge, located near Dayton and Birchwood, TN, along with thousands of sandhill cranes and the endangered Whooping cranes that visit the refuge in the winter months to rest and feed.
Photo credit:  Mike Nelson.   Hooded crane (dark gray with white neck) with sandhill cranes at Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in Tennessee. 

As of January 7th, more than 2388 visitors, representing nine countries and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and 40 states and the District of Columbia, have visited the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge since the Hooded crane was first reported on December 13th.   

As many as eight endangered Whooping cranes (above) have been present on the refuge at one time during this migration and wintering season, and usually one or more is visible from the viewing platform.  The presence of wintering Whooping cranes is attributable to the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership's (WCEP's) two re-introduction programs:  Operation Migration's ultralight-led migration, and the Direct Autumn Release program.  

Whooping crane juveniles must learn their migration route from their parents. Beginning in 2001, Operation Migration, a founding WCEP partner, has led groups of juvenile whooping cranes each fall on their first southerly migration journey through Tennessee to wintering grounds in Florida. These cranes then find their way back to their fledging grounds in Wisconsin in the spring, unassisted by humans, and migrate on their own the next fall. The beautiful cinnamon and white juvenile whooping cranes you see on the refuge have been captive-reared by the International Crane Foundation in Wisconsin and released in the Direct Autumn Release program.  They have arrived at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge by following another more experienced Whooping crane or joining a flock of migrating sandhill cranes.  

Photo credit:  Mike Nelson.  Two juvenile Whooping cranes (cinnamon and white) and one mature whooping crane foraging and preening with sandhill cranes at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge.  

The Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge is a major staging area for migrating cranes in the east where they rest and feed along their migration journey.  Staging areas are important stop-over sights where cranes replenish nutrients, add weight, and come in contact with other cranes for potential pairing.  This is especially important for our eastern Whooping crane population which now numbers around 104 birds.  

The Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival presents a wonderful opportunity to learn about birds and see the rare occurrence of three species of cranes foraging together in a staging wetland.  There is no other place in North America where you can see three species of cranes together, and no other place in the world where three crane species will include the endangered Whooping crane.  Add to this, the treat of seeing thousands of eastern sandhill cranes that were once on the brink of extinction, and you have a rare opportunity for winter bird viewing that you won't want to miss.

Above, you see the cover of the Discover Birds Activity Book, illustrated and authored by yours truly, as a special activity for children who attend the festival. The twelve-page booklet is sponsored by the Tennessee Ornithological Society (TOS) and was coordinated and produced by TOS member and co-chair of the festival, Cyndi Routledge.  It contains fun information about wintering birds, images for children to color and a crossword puzzle to challenge young (and adult) minds.  You will find this book at the TOS exhibit table at the festival!

The festival is co-sponsored by TOS, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), and the Barbara J. Mapp Foundation, and is free to the public.  TWRA personnel will be available to answer questions about the refuge and the wildlife conservation work of the Agency. TOS members will be present at the viewing area to share their birding scopes and their knowledge of the birds you will find there, including bald eagles and many ducks and geese.

I am one of those TOS members and will also be available to answer questions on both days of the festival, so find me and say "hello".  I would love to meet you!

Links and Resources:

Mike Nelson's Flicker site with Hooded crane video and photo stream
Morgan Simmons Jan 10 article Knoxville News Sentinel:  Rare Crane Joins Hiwassee Flock

Marcia Davis:  Sandhill Crane Festival a Premier Wildlife Event

Make your plans to attend the Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival

Directions to Birchwood and the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge
Sandhill Crane Festival Schedule of Events
Tennessee Ornithological Society
Tennessee Watchable Wildlife on Sandhill Cranes
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency:  TN Sandhill Crane Festival
Hooded Crane is Season's Gift by Marcia Davis
Times Free Press--Rare Hooded Crane Seen
International Crane Foundation on the Hooded Crane

At my companion blog, Vickie's Sketchbook:  Sandhill Cranes and Art

Top Crane Posts on this blog:  Hooded Crane at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in TN
Crane Magic--Three Crane Species at Hiwassee

Whooping Crane Reintroduction links:

The 2011 ultralight migration class is currently grounded in Alabama due to an FAA technical investigation.  We hope this issue will resolve soon so the juvenile Whooping cranes can continue their southern migration.  Stay up to date on the migration progress by visiting Operation Migration's field journal.
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership--Direct Autumn Release Program
International Crane Foundation
On this blog:  Whooping Crane Family Series

Linked to Bird World Wednesday at The Pine River Review
Linked to Bird Photography Weekly at Bird Freak.com

Bird Lifestyles Through An Artist's Lens

If you are within driving distance of Knoxville, TN come join me Wednesday night (Oct 7th) at the Knoxville Chapter, TN Ornithological Society (KTOS) monthly meeting for my presentation: Bird Lifestyles Through An Artist's Lens. I'll be talking about how I use my camera to help me see more deeply into bird's lives and, at the same time, find the inspiration for the next work of art.

Without a doubt, I will also be giving an update on the Whooping crane ultralight migration class of 2009, scheduled to depart on their fall migration Oct 10th.

The presentation/meeting will be at 6:45, Wed. Oct 7th, Room 117, UT College of Veterinary Medicine Knoxville, TN. For more information, click the link to see the KTOS Newsletter or visit the KTOS website.

The Multifaceted Nature of Bird Banding

Beauty, resilience, order, dedication, focus, that was a few of the things I witnessed during my first experience with bird banding using mist nets at the Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge in Knoxville, Tennessee.
This work is not easy. And many things about it impressed me. The birds of course were beautiful, not happy mind you, but handled with care and efficiency. To see them in hand, the details of their faces, even the yellow gape at the corner of a juvenile's mouth or the color of an Indigo bunting's feet pads, this is detailed beauty otherwise seen only in photography.
Indigo Bunting But this intimate view of the birds is only a fringe benefit of what is otherwise meticulous work conducted by dedicated members of the Tennessee Ornithological Society who have gone through special training and obtained certifications and special Federal permits to do this work. In the end the data collected contributes to a body of information that helps us both monitor our wild bird populations and develop strategies for conservation action. Juvenile female Yellow-breasted Chat. Notice the yellow gape in the corner of her bill.

Layed out on the table where birds were being examined and banded were scientific handbooks and charts specifying the detailed clues for aging and sexing each bird species, as well as, the appropriate band size for their legs, often different for male and female. Once captured, the birds are held in cloth bags that help to calm them while they wait their turn. Two people examine birds while two more team members record data. And along with these four people the rest of the team, like clock-work, checks the twelve nets at designated times to collect new captures.
Next post: How the birds are aged and sexed and where the data goes.