Sharp's Ridge Memorial Park
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| Sharp's Ridge Memorial Park |
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| Roadway just west of the parking area at the wooded shed. This stretch of the ridge is often one of the most productive areas. |
Location:
Knoxville, within an area between Broadway (east side) and I-275 (west
side), Breda (north) and Watauga/Camaro/Farragut (south), Knox County, Tennessee.
Physiographic Province: PIF 13 (Southern Ridge and Valley);
BCR 28 (Appalachian Mountains)
Geographical Coordinates:
Sharp's
Ridge Memorial Park--Lat. 360012N Long. 0835630W
Elevation Range:
1,050' - 1,379'
1,230' Sharp's Ridge Memorial
Park
Size: 74.27 acres (city owned) The whole ridge is 200+ acres,
most of which is privately owned.
USGS 7.5’ quad: Fountain
City
Description: "Discovered" by J. B. Owen and others in the mid-late 1950's, Sharp's Ridge Memorial Park is a 1.5 mile section of ridge on the north side of Knoxville. It is one of a number of parallel ridges running northeast to southwest in eastern Tennessee, but unlike most is accessible with a paved road along its crest. The site is a limestone ridge with a hardwood/pine forest in an urban setting. Undergrowth varies from dense privet to open understory with scattered wildflowers. The area has several paved and unpaved parking areas, and two covered picnic table/shelters.
IBA
Criteria: 4f
Ornithological Importance:
This site is a "migrant trap" for neotropical migrants.
Note 1. Over the course of the spring, the number of migrant
species present exceeds 50, including about 30 warblers, 5 vireos, 5 thrushes,
as well as many other species among them hawks, flycatchers, sparrows, grosbeaks/buntings,
tanagers, sparrows, and blackbirds/orioles. The total number of migrant songbirds
present on any good day in the spring is in the hundreds, and the total for the
spring season is easily in the thousands. For individual species, the most numerous
in the spring is usually the Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler, and daily totals
exceeding 100 are common in late April and early May. Red-eyed Vireos daily
numbers probably exceed 50 during the same time period. Daily numbers of other
species are usually considerably lower.
Site Criteria | Species/ | Season1 | Avg. No Season | Max. No. Season | Years of Data | Source2 |
4f | Land Birds: Neotropical Migrants (See Note 1 above) | SM, FM |
| 1,000's | Late 1950's-2005 | 7 |
| Season1
B = Breeding, W = Wintering, SM = Spring Migration, FM = Fall Migration Source 2 1-Atlas Breeding Birds of Tennessee 2-Breeding Bird Surveys 3-Christmas Bird Counts 4-Point Counts 5-Refuge Counts 6-Personal observations 7-Other (Charles P. Nicholson, Knoxville Chapter TOS) |
Ownership:
Knoxville Department of Parks and Recreation
Contact:
Knoxville Department of Parks and Recreation, 400 Main Avenue, Room 303, Knoxville,
TN 37918, 965-215-2090.
Conservation
Concerns: Concerns include air pollution, introduced plants/animals,
commercial development, residential development, deforestation, predation from
cats and dogs, and tower casualties.
Management Program:
The city's management is limited to occasional mowing of roadsides and around
the picnic tables, emptying trash cans, and police patrols. The Knoxville Chapter
TOS conducts litter cleanups and is working to reduce invasive plant infestations.
Submitted by: Dan & Laurie Mooney, birds@birnerds.com
and David Trently, dtrently@utk.edu
Additional Contributors: Charles P. Nicholson, cpnichol@bellsouth.net and Knoxville Chapter TOS
Approved as an IBA site: December 2005--Yes 6 No 1
This page was last updated on 02/19/06.
