FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Rick Knight's Big Year

["Donald Miller" <pandion@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

January 15, 2007

Signing onto my e-mail a little while ago, I was delighted to see Rick Knight's 
account of his Big Year in northeast Tennessee in 2006.  Finding 237 species in 
the five counties of Rick's territory is truly an impressive accomplishment.  
Allow me to offer a little perspective on this.

I consider my "home territory" to be the six counties on which I'm compiling 
records (Cocke, Grainger, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins, Jefferson) and the five 
counties in the northeast tip of the state (Carter, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi, 
Washington).  I include the five northeastern counties because Greene borders 
two of them and almost borders a third.  Since I live so close to Sullivan, 
Unicoi, and Washington, it makes since to bird them at least semi-regularly.  
In this eleven-county region, I set a yearly goal of at least 200 species.  
Since I started doing this a few years ago, I've never gotten under 220.  In 
2006, I found 235 species in this region.

I wasn't attempting a Big Year in 2006.  In fact, I've never attempted one 
because my job and family responsibilities make it impossible to do this.  
However, as anyone who knows me is aware, I bird a lot in the time I have.  
Much of my birding consists of short, targeted trips to specific habitats at 
key times of the year.  I've learned to get a lot of birds in relatively little 
time.

Despite birding in an area more than twice the size of Rick's region, I managed 
"only" 235 species.  True, I wasn't attempting to max out on species, but I 
birded a great deal nonetheless.  Rick's area doesn't include Rankin Bottoms or 
Dutch Bottoms, the expansive agricultural areas of western Greene County, the 
large wetlands at Wal-Mart Distribution Center, or the often productive 
Cherokee and Douglas Lakes, yet he still found 237 species--without having the 
luxury of an abundance of certain types of habitat.  This is a tribute to his 
knowledge of birds and of the region where he lives.  Of course, as Rick points 
out, 2006 did bring a lot of rarities to the area, but rarities mostly go 
unnoticed unless skilled birders seek them out.  He sought them out (and shared 
his findings with all of us).

Congratulations on a great year, Rick.  I hope you break the record in 2007.


Don Miller
Greeneville, Greene Co., TN

pandion@xxxxxxxxxxxxx