FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Bill Grigsby named BBC 'Birder of the Year'

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Bill Grigsby named BBC 
'2007 Birder of the Year'

Bill Grigsby of Kingsport, Tennessee, who served two terms as the
President of the Bristol Bird Club (2005-2007), was announced
Saturday night as the '2007 Birder of the Year' at the annual BBC
Christmas party in Piney Flats.

His second term was completed
at the BBC annual summer picnic
following his leadership of the club's
highly-successful hosting of the 
annual statewide Tennessee 
Ornithological Society 2007 spring 
meeting at Bristol.

Another jewel of his legacy will
be the reinstatement of the 
Kingsport Christmas Bird Count
which will be sponsored by BBC.

The count will be held Wednesday,
Dec. 26.  Grigsby has been
investigating the idea for the past 
year.  It was held from 1949 to 1998 when it was discontinued for a 
lack of interest and participation.  Bill will be the compiler.

He has regularly attended state level TOS meetings at all seasons of
the year and represented BBC on the state board of directors.

In the spring of this year, he took a course in Ornithology under 
Dr. Fred Alsop at East Tennessee State University.  As part of that
study he traveled across state by van in February with a group of the 
students to observe birds at Reelfoot Lake in northwest Tennessee.

He has worked tirelessly to facilitate the birding weekends sponsored by the 
Bristol Bird Club and Natural Tunnel State Park in Scott County, Va.  The 
weekend outings for BBC members and public bird walks are conducted
twice annually from the beautiful Cove Ridge Center. This has been an amazingly
successful, formal, written, agreement co-op program with the Virginia state 
parks system. 

He joined with other BBC members to establish a booth on birding a the
annual Virginia Highlands Festival in Abingdon.  Along with Ron Harrington,
they were the first to set up and man the both and display.

Grigsby was the leader for the BBC-Wards Feed Store popular bird walks
at the annual summer FunFest in Kingsport with great public field trips held 
at Bays Mountain Park Nature Center.  Wards Feed Store is the financial sponsor
paying entry fees and promoting the event with FunFest.  Bill was also 
instrumental in setting up an annual BBC fall seed sale at the feed store.

He produced the BBC's first brochure which has been distributed throughout
the region at nature, birding and public events.

Under Grigsby's term the BBC Rainforest Adventures Committee was established
and he appointed committee members.  The first successful trip was the
July 2006 BBC-sponsored birding trip to Trinidad and Tobago under the 
leadership of BBC's own Dr. John Moyle.  They birded out of a base at the 
famous 
Asa Wright Nature Center and the The William Beebe Tropical Research 
Station.   This summer the BBC is organizing its second such adventure.   
It is scheduled to run from July 12 through July 22.  BBC has arranged for 
a birding/wildlife expedition  to the Andean Mountains of Ecuador. 

It is not forgotten that Bill has been our constant social host for the past 
few 
years, bring out his oven for his trademark Dutch Oven Cobbler and also hot 
chocolate and cookies for woodcock events in Shady Valley.

Grigsby becomes the thirteenth annual recipient of the award which was first
presented in 1995.