Lynne McCoy: deservingly honored

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This is long overdue. 

Wildlife rehabilitator Lynne McCoy was recently honored by the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce as their "Volunteer of the Year." Truth is, she should be East Tennessee's Volunteer of the Year. 

Indeed! 

Since 1973, Lynne has given of herself, her time and her money to care for thousands of injured and orphan animals. Yes. Thousands. Last year alone, 1,718 passed through her home and most matured or were healed from their wounds to be returned to the wild. 

Of that over seventeen hundred in 2019, there were 484 opossums, 373 rabbits, 190 gray squirrels, 12 flying squirrels, 19 screech owls, 4 black vultures, 79 Carolina wrens, 61 robins, 2 great blue herons, 5 hummingbirds, 3 black rat snakes...and the list goes on and on. And because Lynne is state-permitted, a sheet of paper has to be filled out for each animal so that it can be documented. 

Lynne is a friend of mine and there are few people on this planet I admire more than her.

How can you help? Donate money for her to buy food. She receives no state or federal funding. 

Occasionally, I am called by the University of Tennessee Veterinary Hospital to transport animals to Lynne to care for and I have had all matter of patients in my car. 

Often, I take a few photos after I arrive.

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eagles in the Jayhawk State

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It is still February and today it is snowing in the Tennessee Valley. This once again makes me think of bald eagles. February is the month the females lay their eggs. It does not matter if it is snowing or not. Bring it on!

I recently received an email from our friend and bird chaser Betty Thompson in Kansas. And what else? She sent eagle photos taken in the snow at Lake Afton due west from Wichita.  

Historically, bald eagles nested in Tennessee but stopped between 1961 and 1983 because of the pesticide DDT. When that was banned and had time to flush itself out of our environment, eagle nests reappeared in the Volunteer State. And they quickly dispersed to find new lakeside habitat even going into historically new territory to the west, the Jayhawker State.

The first bald eagle nest ever reported in Kansas was not until 1989. 

And they are still there, doing fine.

The photo at the bottom is of a younger eagle. The National Symbol does not start to molt into its adult/sexually active plumage until they are 4- to 5-years old.

(It is believed that the term "jayhawk" came into usage in the 1800s and is a combination of a loud blue jay and a screaming kestrel.)  

Thanks, Betty!

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Valentine eagles

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This is a feel-good story just in time for Valentine's Day. In fact, it's more than feel-good; it's uplifting and simply could not have been told 30 years ago.

Nesting bald eagles completely disappeared from Tennessee in the 1960s and 70s. There were no known successful eagle nests in the state between 1961 and 1983, a span of 22 years. Zero. With the banning of DDT in 1972 and protection afforded by the Endangered Species Act in 1978, bald eagles began to return to our skies but they needed help.

So what's new? Due to the efforts of TWRA, TVA, and the American Eagle Foundation, bald eagles have made a robust comeback since their low ebb in Tennessee in the 1960s.

After an absence of over two decades, TWRA reports that the first successful bald eagle nest in our state was discovered near Dover in the spring of 1983. Since that initial lone nest, there are now over 200 nests statewide. So many in fact, they have become rather difficult to tally.

Bald eagles form long-term pair-bonds that perhaps last for life. They are site loyal and will generally return to the same nesting locations year after year. But like other birds of prey, the mated pair go their separate ways after their parental duties are finished and can roam vast areas searching for food.

The mated pair return to their chosen breeding territory in late fall...

For the rest of my Valentine story, look for the January/February issue of The Tennessee Conservationist.

Top photo by David Magers.

Thank you, Louise. 

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Doc kestrel visits Wild Birds

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Special thanks to Liz and Tony Cutrone for inviting Doc to stop by and visit Wild Birds Unlimited yesterday. 

As you can see by the above photo, Doc has become quite accustomed to representing kestrels as a wildlife ambassador for the State of Tennessee. So much so that I can nap while he answers questions. 

The American kestrel is the smallest falcon native to the Americas. Weighing only four ounces, they are also the smallest raptor in our part of the world. They are generally found watching over meadows and other grasslands where they eat a wide range of prey animals including grasshoppers. 

Next Question?

Doc is a non-flighted male that was brought into the University of Tennessee Veterinary Hospital mid-January, 2019. He had a badly broken and infected right wing and sadly, will never fly again. He was treated by Dr. Cheryl Greenacre and it was her good care that brought him to me after he spent time on antibiotics with Lynne McCoy a local wildlife rehabilitator. 

Doc has been a wildlife ambassador for the state and under my care and education permit for almost a year. He makes public appearances to raise awareness of kestrels and their current status in the wild. By some accounts, the kestrel subspecies (Falco sparverius paulus) found in the southeast has suffered a population decline of 83 percent since 1940 and no one is completely sure why.

In Delaware it is on their state's Endangered Species list. In Tennessee, its population decline is of concern. 

Does Doc feel the pressure of representing kestrels everywhere? So far, he hasn't shown it.  

Wild Birds Unlimited is located at 7240 Kingston Pike.

Tony Cutrone at Wild Birds Unlimited

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