Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 18, 1990 TAG: 9005220303
SECTION: SMITH MT. LAKE GUIDE PAGE: SML-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"It is a fantastic place," said the Lynchburg resident, a popular and respected member of both the Roanoke and Lynchburg bird clubs.
The lake, its winding course forming something of a watery transition between the Blue Ridge and the Piedmont, becomes a birding alley beginning around November.
Like wind-blown specks, migrating ducks of an imposing variety whistle across the impoundment, all the more active when dirty weather has the water crashing about.
Also present are common loons, which aren't as common as their name indicates, and ring-billed gulls waiting for marauding striped bass to chop up schools of baitfish for them to eat.
A careful look in the more remote areas, over the dam and up the Blackwater River arm, can turn up a real prize for a birder - a majestic bald eagle.
In Eubank's opinion, the birding hot spots at the lake are the three trails found in Smith Mountain Lake State Park: Lakeview, Chestnut Ridge and Turtle Island.
"Just anytime I have recorded from 30-some to 50-some species on a field trip," he said.
When Norma and Joel Shapiro moved down from the north to the Smith Mountain shoreline, about three years ago, what surprised them most was the abundance of common loons.
"We knew they were farther north," said Norma Shapiro. "We had seen them when we go to Maine in the summertime. I did not realize that they would be here in the wintertime. Even more exciting, I did not know that they would be here year-round, breeding, which they are."
These long-bodied birds, which ride low in the water, are best known for their maniacal laugh and mournful yodel.
Bald eagles and ospreys do not breed at Smith Mountain, as far as Rocky Mount birder George Stubb is aware. But that day may not be far off.
"Both of those species were devastated by DDT, and are now making a tremendous comeback," he said. "There are now some inland [breeding] records for both, and it may be just a matter of time before the osprey, anyway, would find its way back to breeding in this area."
Most of the eagles Stubb observes are near the Blackwater River arm of the lake, but Eubank says the area from Smith Mountain Dam down into Leesville Lake also is eagle territory.
"I have seen them take fish out of the water," said Eubank. "I have seen them perch in trees, like they have just fed. I have never seen anything like them going to a nest, which I have been watching for."
Eagle spotting can require a trained eye. Adding to the challenge, a high percentage of the birds are immature, lacking the white head plumage, white tail feathers and yellow bill that distinguish the adult.
It is safe to say that most Smith Mountain visitors - even residents - never have observed a bald eagle, or did not realize what they were seeing when they did.
Herons and egrets are easier to spot. The great blue heron is a memorable sight - a grayish bird whose gangly legs boost its height to 4 feet, its 7-foot wingspan enough to cast a shadow over a boat.
The great egret is more graceful and less common than the heron. It stalks its prey slowly in shallow water, standing motionless, like a creature made of ceramic, as its sharp eyes peer for the movement of a crawfish or other food.
The lake can attract a variety of sandpipers, especially when low-water levels create a feeding bench by exposing a moist, open band along the shoreline, said Stubb.
"Most of the time you are going to catch the sandpipers moving through in the spring," said Eubank, who has observed greater-yellow leg, lesser-yellow leg, spotted and solitary varieties at Smith Mountain.
Gulls were a rarity during the pre-lake days, but now are common, particularly during the cold-weather months. Most at Smith Mountain are ring-billed, and they have followed the Roanoke River up from the coast, Eubank believes. There also are some Bonaparte's gulls, which are black-headed, and Caspian terns, a whitish bird with a black cap and quiet habits.
The ring-billed gull is a master of finding food, often following schools of striped bass and diving to gather the carnage when the stripers crash into baitfish near the surface. They savor scavengers' pickings and aren't above begging from boaters. That explains the flocks that gather at the Roanoke Regional Landfill up-river from the lake or wait in the lower end for shoreline resident Dillard Grubb to go fishing.
Grubb delights in tossing them pellets of dog food. The gulls spot him as soon as he eases out of his cove near the Sportsman Inn and follow him until he docks his boat.
Ask a birder like like Eubank or Stubb about the varieties of ducks at Smith Mountain, and they will say the number is so great they'd have to use an adding machine to be certain.
When temperatures fall, the opportunities to see ducks increases, says Norma Shapiro.
"If the weather north of us is so severe that the lakes there freeze over, then they move here because this lake has a lot of open water no matter how cold the winter gets," she said.
Smith Mountain has a swelling number of hybrid ducks, the offspring of pet mallards and Pekin-type white ducks that have been released by lakeshore property owners. When the two get together, the result is a kaleidoscope of markings and colors.
An occasional flock of Canada geese will migrate through, and there always is the chance to see a rare critter, like the red-necked grebe, which Stubb considers one of his most unusual finds.
The lake's shoreline, with its clumps of pines, its groves of hardwoods, its hedgerows, its meadows and its mountain, is home to numerous land birds.
"In the spring, you easily can find yellow-billed cuckoos," said Eubank. There are bluebirds and owls, indigo buntings and Louisiana water thrush, Eastern red crossbill and pine siskins. The list goes on.
But one birder's hot spot can be another's castoff. Fred Cramer, a seasoned birder from Roanoke, doesn't see Smith Mountain as having all that much to offer.
"If you go down there and cruse the lake, you will see some birds, but you probably will see more along the river, because they are a little more concentrated," he said. "Simply because the lake is so big, they are scattered."
A best bet for birding in Cramer's book is the Roanoke River above the lake, which he describes as a greenway of diverse habitat that funnels a rich variety of wildlife through a narrow corridor.
Fall through spring is best for birding at Smith Mountain, said Eubank. The water skiers and most of the boaters are gone, as are the leaves that obstruct summertime views.
Early morning and late afternoon is ideal.
"If you go in the middle of the day, you probably are going to have a bland time, even though the birds are there," he said.
At times, Eubank goes birding from a boat, probing the remote coves to see what is around the next bend, but he prefers working from the bank.
"I seem to be able to get more birds on a list in a short amount of time by going through the brush."
Eubank isn't certain how much impact lakeshore development will have on birdlife. He does know that some spots he once used for birding now have a house on them. That makes the state park all the more important for his hobby, he said.
Norma Shapiro believes the lake would be even more attractive to birds, particularly waterfowl, with marsh areas.
"That would provide some vegetation for the waterfowl that eat vegetation rather than fish," she said.
by CNB