As I discussed in the introduction to this series of posts, Buchanan county has some interesting habitat - these are grasslands where mountains were removed during surface mining for coal. These recovered areas are flatter and have successional habitat different than the surrounding woodlands. In one area, recovery includes reintroduction of Elk after being extirpated in Virginia 100 years ago. I was glad to see a few Elk. Two I saw early one morning and another I saw while hiking a more remote trail during the day.

As shown, some of the Elk are quite decked out. The two I saw the first day were both double ear tagged and with a hefty radio collar. One I saw later was not similarly adorned. I did feel that this elk looked more like a domestic animal than a wild animal. In fact some of the criticism for bringing in the Elk was essentially that we are not creating a real ecosystem - more a wildlife viewing and hunting park. This is especially true given that the natural predators of the Elk, Wolves, are not being brought back at the same time. Coincidentally, I am reading After the Blast by Eric Wagner. Elk returned to the blast site and have had a mixed impact on the environment and even with hunting, are overpopulated. There some estimate that the Wolves (which are close) will come within 20 years.

Birds

But as a birder, it was amazing to come up the mountain and hear the sound of grassland birds. I also watched an interesting interaction/territorial dispute. I saw an Eastern Meadowlark flying back and forth between two autumn olives. It seemed to be pretty activated. In prior visits to this spot, i found the adult meadowlarks were feeding young. Then I noticed that there was a different song coming from one of the trees. A Dickcissel! I moved around for a view and there it was. Each time the Eastern Meadowlark would enter that tree, the Dickcissel would turn to face it. This went on for minutes. Finally the Dickcissel flew off. I thought the interspecies competition interesting! In the same spot were a bajillion grasshopper sparrows, field sparrows, and indigo buntings but only the Dickcissel appeared to be driven off.

Here are some more images.

And just to show what all this singing and territorial dispute is about, its about making babies!