FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Remember BBC's Bog Watch this Saturday

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Members of the Bristol Bird Club invite all of you to join us at our Quarry
Bog Bogwatch in Shady Valley, Tennessee Saturday (10/8) as we help
celebrate the annual Cranberry Festival and enjoy a good day of visiting and
birding.  Come loaf and bird with us in one of Tennessee's most 15 important 
biological areas among pastoral scenery sure to satisfy that craving for a 
drive on a crisp fall day.
This event has been very popular with our birders for the past many years.
We will start gathering at Quarry Bog at 8 a.m.  Quarry Bog is located on Tn
Rt. 133  8/10 of a mile from the valley's main crossroads  in the direction
of Damascus, Va. and Backbone Rock.  This is just  1/2 mile north of Shady
Valley School on the left.  You will notice a massive oak tree on the left
(same side as school) and your turn into the lane and our group can be found
gathered at the end of the lane at the edge of the Quarry Bog Prserve property.

Shady Valley is located east of Holston Mountain and South Holston Lake, south 
of Damascus, Va., north of Elizabethton, Tenn. and west of Mountain City in 
Johnson County, Tennessee.

The Shady Valley Cranberry Festival has been termed "The Best Little Festival 
in Tennessee."  The event name and festival was first proposed by the Bristol 
Bird Club in October 1991.  The first festival was held Sept. 1992 and featured 
a Friday "Naturalist Night" dinner co-sponsored by the BBC and the Shady Valley 
Ruritan.  The first festival was organized by a commuity committee which still 
conducts the event on an annual basis. 

The Bristol Bird Club has participated with the nature night dinners, field 
trips, birding events, birdwalks and the bog watches for 13 years. 

Birding at Quarry Bog offers a chance to see an American Bittern, Virginia 
Rail, Sora, Sedge Wren, Marsh Wren, Savannah Sparrow, Henslow's Sparrow, 
LeConte's Sparrow, Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow and Lincoln's 
Sparrow.

Mitch Moore plans to bring a gas stove and will make coffee for the early
birders and that should be a delight.  We will come up with paper cups for
everyone but you are invited to bring your favorite thermal mug or morning
mug for extra enjoyment.

Please bring your folding chair for lounging and visitng.  Snacks, desserts,
chips whatever are always fun. Pack a lunch if you like or get something to
eat at the festival. Remember the grass can be wet from due in the early
hours so be prepared.  We will make regular walking checks of the bog areas
from time to time to search for the really good birds mentioned above.

Mitch Moore will help organize short walks and the gathering at the bog.

The Annual Cranberry Festival will be underway just 1/2 mile down the road.
Several of us usually go down for the really-fun and casual parade which
begins about 11 a.m. Traffic and parking can be very heavy near parade time
if you a traveling in on TN. Rt. 91 or U.S. 421 so come earlier.  The music
grounds and craft booths as well as good food will be available at the
fesitval grounds on the Shady Valley School ballfields.

One of the favorites is the Polish sausage on buns served by the Shady
Valley Ruritan Club at the picnic shelter.  Be sure and say hello to Ruritan
members Chris O'Bryan and Lynn and Todd Eastin who are all members of the
Bristol Bird Club.  They will be busy at the booth. 

Chris will be leading a nature walk to School Yard Spring preserve of The 
Nature Conservancy during the early afternoon hours.  Check with Chris at the 
Ruritan Club Picnic Shelter early enough to find out the time and meeting 
location for this exciting and enjoyable walk.  Chris is a Junior Naturalist at 
Steele Creek Nature Center in Bristol, Tennessee.  This will be the third year 
that he has been the leader of this popular nature walk.

The festival features large crowds, a Friday evening bean supper, arts and 
crafts, a Saturday pancake breakfast at the Shady Valley Volunteer Fire 
Department on U.S. 421,  7 a.m. to 9 a.m.  A 10 a.m. parade will feature the 
high school marching band, floats, antique tractors, old cars, horses and more. 
 There will be a day of bluegrass, gospel and country music.  The Ruritans will 
conduct wild cranberry tours.  You will find events for the children, 
helicopter rides, and an exhibit by The Tennessee Chapter of The Nature 
Conservancy at Shady Valley school.  You will even enjoy the old rock school 
built by the WPA project of 1936, complete with an interior of wormy chestnut 
throughout.

All of this to celebrate our wonderful wild heritage of mountain cranberries, 
the natural wonders of the valley, and to raise money for the school and their 
scholarship program.

We usually begin to give up our bogwatch by sometime in early afternoon,
depending on the mood and success of birders.

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN

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