FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Caution Flag Flies at Watagua

[MerlinZ02@xxxxxxx]

The Busch race in Bristol may have been rained out Saturday, but the caution 
flag still waved ... at Watauga Lake!
I decided to do a little birding by car Saturday at Little Wilbur and Watagua 
Dam Overlook.  As I entered Little Wilbur I noticed a few Bufflehead that 
were still present and 2 Scaup.  I figured if the rain were to slack up on the 
way back I would get out my newly acquired spotting scope and see if I could 
figure out if they were Lesser or Greater.  I make my way up to the top and see 
no activity of birds.  It was a big foggy  with steady rain and I could make 
out a small bit of snow starting to mix in.  I turn around and make my way back 
down and while doing so, I notice the snow really starting to mix in.  I had 
the feeling that it was going to be snowing really hard any minute.  

Around one of the curves a rock had slid off the side of the steep embankment 

waiting on my arrival.

As I head around that fateful curve, the falling precipitation had almost 
changed back to all rain when I see the rock just a bit late and hit it square 
on.  It wasn't a huge rock, about 1 1/2 the size of my fist, but it was big 
enough.  As I crossed the bridge I noticed something wrong.  A little farther 
up I 
stop and look at my flat tire.  

The caution flag was out at Watauga.

As I change the tire - keep in mind that Dale Earnhardt Jr would definitely 
not hire me to be on his pit crew - I try not to notice the cold rain beating 
down on me.  When I finally get the "donut" on my car, I notice that it is half 
flat.  With the extended caution out, I limp to the Amoco at the four lane 
for air.  

My first birding blowout.  It knocked out of the rest of the 
rac...err...weekend birding.  I almost decided to go to Sycamore Shoals on 
Sunday, but decided 
that it was too windy to do a lot of walking.  Ironically enough, I had sold 
my race tickets to the Nextel Food City 500 at Bristol this past weekend so I 
could go bird watching.  I ended up watching it on TV instead.

$239.62 later, I am back on the birding trail.

Rob Biller
Elizabethton, TN


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