FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Re: Old Mamma Goose at Musick's Campground

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Area Birders:

In the report I said that the colar number on the Canada Goose at Musick's
Campground today was +J9.  I meant to type that it was +JL.  I transposed
the numbers in my mind when I was typing that report.  She is +JL and he is
+J9.  Sorry for the confusion.

Let's go birding...

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2004 6:29 PM
Subject: [Bristol-Birds] Old Mamma Goose at Musick's Campground


> Mamma Goose
> Musick's Campground
> South Holston Lake
> Sullivan Co., TN
> A female Canada Goose who is known to be at least 11 years old, put in a
nice visit to the "outer banks" of Musick's Campground this morning (9/12).
She is marked with a collar and has been an old aquaintance of Bristol Bird
Club members and I have personally known her for a decade.
>
> It's been four and one-half years since I've seen her.  The last time was
May 14, 2000 when she was hanging out on the Spring Creek Mudflats along Va.
Rt. 75 in the Spring Creek Embayment of South Holston Lake, Washington Co.,
Va.   It was the time of year when lovers have gosslings on their mind and
she was with her boyfriend.  She had known him for about six years back
then.
>
> The Bristol Bird Club has kept a computer database of 983 observations of
neck colared and banded Canada Geese dating back nearly 20 years.  Our
record are for birds from places such as Ontario, Hendersonville, NC,
Summers, W.VA., Richmond, VA and the Big Sandy Unit Tennessee National
Wildlife Refuge in West Tennessee.  But mostly they are for hundreds of
sightings in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.
>
> The love birds from South Holston Lake have put in a few appearance on our
list over the years.
>
> They were together July 7, 1994 when the Virginia Dept Game Inland
Fisheries caught them at the Creeper Trail Head Pond in  Abingdon,
Washington Co., Va. and gave her neck collar +JL and him +J9.  Biologist
know all about how to tell the gals from the guys.
>
> She got her colar registered with the Bristol Bird Club on Oct. 31, 1994
when BBC member Jeff Larsen found her still hanging around at the Creeper
Trail Head Pond in Abingdon, Va.
>
> Her boyfriend made our list of most wanted February 12, 1995 at the same
location
> when John Shumate, Carolyn Coffey, Lorrie Shumate and Wallace Coffey
spotted him.
>
> He was with her the last time I saw her May 14, 2000 on the Spring Creek
Mudflats.
>
> Today's record breaking observation unfolded while Terry Witt of
Murfreesboro, Al and Sandy Kolak (Knoxville), Carolyn & Wallace Coffey
(Bristol TN), Janice & Fred Martin (Bristol, VA) and Lorain and Bert Hale
(Bluff City, TN) were keeping the vigil for the Sooty Tern at the
campground.
>
> Fred Martin noticed that a single Canada Goose on the outer banks had a
white ring around its neck and asked Bert Hale what he thought about that.
It was called to Coffey's attention who did not notice it was a very-worn
full cone neck colar.  Bert Hale noticed that it was a full colar and we
started looking closer.  Most of the colar was worn down but I could, when
the light was reflecting just right, see the number +J9 visibile more as an
impression in the colar than as an actual printed number.
>
> The Martins soon left and Frank Bills and Sharon Bostic from Knoxville
arrived but the goose had departed by then.
>
> Love stories are just wonderful.  Aren't they ?   I wonder where her
boyfriend is.  Is he n living ?   Don Holt telephoned the other morning and
said two men in a boat were shooting Canada Geese off the bank from their
boat and dipping the injured and dead birds from the lake.  The "sportsmen"
are taking part in the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's annual fall
Canada Goose season which began Sept. 5.  They may kill five (5) geese per
day each for each day of the season.
>
> Old +JL has either been too smart or just lucky in the right place at the
right time.  I hope she wasn't nearby watching if +J9 got shot right off the
bank sometime not too long ago.  What a sad story that would have been for
her!  And for some of us too.
>
> Let's go birding.....
>
> Wallace Coffey
> Bristol, TN
>
>
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>
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>          wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>            (423)764-****
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*************************************************
       BRISTOL BIRDS NET LIST
Bristol Birds Net Photo Gallery located at:
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jwcoffeyy/album?.dir=/efd5

This is a regional birding list sponsored by the
Bristol Bird Club to facilitate communications 
between birders and bird clubs of Southwest Virginia
and Northeast Tennessee.  
--------------------------------------------------
You are subscribed to Bristol-Birds.
To post to this mailing list, simply send an email
to: bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, send
an email to bristol-birds-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
the one word 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
--------------------------------------------------
       Wallace Coffey, Moderator
         wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
           (423)764-****