Colony Name: Holston Army Ammunition Plant - Kingsport
Colony Code: Hawkins-1
County: Hawkins

Geographical Location.
    Physiographic Province: PIF 13 (Southern Ridge and Valley); BCR (28 (Appalachian Mountains)
    Latitude and Longitude: 36.52472 and -82.61979
        How Obtained:  

Nearest City/Town: Kingsport
Distance: 3 miles
Directions from town to colony: From entrance of Holston Army Ammunition Plant, proceed 3 miles east on Hwy 11.
Owner: Holston Army Ammunition Plant
    Address: 4509 West Stone Drive, Kingsport, TN 37660
Management Plan: None

Description.
    General Description: The heronry is located just upstream from river mile 140 on the north side of the bank. Existing heronry is approximately 1.9 miles upstream from the original/historical site of the heronry on Clay Islands, which was abandoned in 2005 due to the presence of a pair of nesting Bald Eagles for the first time. This new heronry began with approximately 15 nests during the first year of abandonment of the Clay Island site and has just reached the approximate number of nests that were in the original heronry. No doubt many of the new heronries located in the general area around HSAAP were started by herons that were disrupted and moved off the property due to the disturbance by the eagles.
    General Habitat: Riparian/River, Stream
    Specific Habitat: Deciduous Trees
    Species of nest trees: Sycamore (all nests)
    Size: 0.34 hectare

History.
    Kingsport. Holston Army Ammunition Plant, on and near Clay Island on the Holston River, of breeding colony of Great Blue Heron and Double-crested Cormorant.   1995. Had 140 active Great Blue Heron nests and approximately 40 Double-crested Cormorant nests. Known since 1990 (Ron Caldwell & John Copeland). 1995. April 8,  (57 active nests) on Clay Island (Rick Knight and Wallace Coffey). 2005. The heronry had 140 nests early in 2005 but most moved 1,000 feet upstream and about 800 feet away from the river, near a large cooling water stream that flows into Arnott Branch.  About 75 nests built in new colony when moved. The birds are believed to have moved due to a pair of Bald Eagles nesting on the island.  Second new colony of 15 nests found in Feb 2006 about 0.5 miles upstream from Clay Island. Contacts are Bruce Cole, bruce.cole@us.army.mil; and Wallace Coffey, 423-764-3958, jwcoffey@tricon.net.
 

2008 Breeding Surveys

Date	Species	Reproductive Stage	Survey Type (Nests)	Survey Type (Adults)	Total Number Adults	Total Number Nests	Number Active Nests	Number Young Seen	Estimated Breeding Pairs
April 9	Double-crested Cormorant	Eggs in Nest	Actual Count	Actual Count	112	60	60	0	60
April 9	Great Blue Heron	Eggs in Nest	Actual Count	Actual Count	125	120	120	0	120

Comments: April 9 - Although the majority of the birds were sitting on nests, there was still some nest building on-going as birds were occasionally observed carrying nesting material. The above nest count is based on the average of two separate counts and is probably accurate within five nests for both species. A spotting scope was used for this count. An additional survey was conducted approximately one month ago during the early nest building stage and only 88 nests were observed using binoculars. Even though this count may have slightly under-represented the actual number of nests at the time, there is no doubt that the heronry has doubled in size this year. One tree that had no nests during the previous survey in March, contained 15 nests during this survey. Rough counts in 2007 indicated about 80 nests in the heronry. All tree utilized in the heronry are Sycamore.