FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Welcome Bristol: TOS State Meeting Birders

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Welcome to Bristol:
Tennessee Ornithological Society

from you hosts and friends of
the Bristol Bird Club
proud sponsors of the TOS Annual State Meeting

    Birders from Memphis to North Georgia, Southwest Virginia and places in 
between began arriving Thursday night from their journey to the mountains of 
the beautiful and vast Southern Appalachians.  They are here for a delightful 
and birding-filled weekend.

    Early birders came to search the Ridge and Valley and the Cherokee National 
Forest Friday to get their first Tennessee record of a Ruffed Grouse.  They 
were successful at Little Oak Campground on South Holston Lake and at Steele 
Creek Park in Bristol Tennessee !

    An excellent turnout continued to roll in until 10 p.m. as West Tennessee 
birders completed the long trek.

    As dawn broke across the towering peaks of the great Blue Ridge, early this 
Saturday, field trips spread out over an area
nearly a 100 miles across to bird some of the nation's greatest cove hardwoods 
and famous heath balds in high elevation meadows.

    To the west a group climbed high into the Allegheny Mountains to the 
beautiful Laurel Bed Lake near the crest of Clinch Mountain.  During the course 
of the weekend field trip leaders will take parties to Whitetop Mountain in the 
heart of the Mount Rorgers National Recreation Area of the Jefferson National 
Forest.  Then in the upper reaches of the New River watershed birders will go 
high into Grayson Highlands State Park along the famed and birdy Virginia 
Highlands Horse Trail to bird the headwaters of Fox Creek.  Not far away 
parties will wind south through the dramatic cove hardwoods of the Cherokee 
National Forest along Beaverdam Creek to Shady Valley -- Tennessee highest 
mountain valley and home to some of the most imperiled species and endangered 
habitat in the state.

    Others are birding the easy lowland trails and rolling ridges of the Ridge 
and Valley region at Bristol Tennessee's 2100-acre Steele Creek Park.  Still 
others will seek breath-taking birding from Roan Mountain State Park to 
Carver's Gap and beyond, reaching altitudes near 6,000 feet in conifer forests 
along the North Carolina stateline.

    Rick Knight leads trips Saturday and Sunday to Shady Valley to explore rare 
high-elevation mountain bogs owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy.

    From the ancient New River and the headwaters of the Tennessee River 
birders are listening and watching for special breeding flycatchers,  warblers, 
thrushes, woodpeckers and special finches of these great mountains.

    Among the unique high elevation breeding species which may be found on 
territories are Alder's Flycatcher, Ruffed Grouse, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Least 
Flycatcher, Common Raven, Blacked-cap Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown 
Creeper, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-bellied Spapsuckers, 
Veery, Swainson's Thrush, Hermit Thrush, Blue-headed Vireo, Blue-winged 
Warbler, Golden-winged Warblers, Magnolia Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, 
Blackburnian Warbler, Swainson's Warbler, Canada Warbler, Rose-breasted 
Grosbeak, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Bobolink, Purple 
Finch, Red-crossbills and Pine Siskins.

    It is overcast with the wind gentle at about 6 mph and the temperatures in 
the mid 50's over most of the middle elevations up to 3000 feet.  The 
temperature drops significantly in the next 3000 feet of elevation above that.  
A light rain was expected over some of the region until late morning.

    Saturday evening in Bristol, TOS members will gather for a sumptuous dinner 
at Sugar Hollow Park's Waldo Miles Center in Bristol Virginia and hear Dr. 
Richard Peake, author of Birds of the Virginia Cumberlands speak on the subject 
"Birds of the Cloud Islands," with an illustrated talk about Appalachian 
Mountain birds and mountain birds from other parts of the world.."

    What a wonderful weekend!  We are delighted that such a great turnout has 
come for the Annual State Meeting of the Tennessee Ornithological Society.  
And, for those of you who are with us in sprit and envy, we miss you and hope 
you will come be with us next time.

    It is joy beyond belief to meet the good souls and faces that go with all 
the names seen here on TN-Birds.

    Your friends from the Bristol Bird Club once again present you with high 
quality and well organized birding in rare habitat of these mountains, just for 
talented and exciting birders like you !  You deserve the best and that is why 
we always have the best here for you.

    Bristol Bird Club
    Bristol, TN-VA