FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Lifetime of bird banding to end.

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At the end of this month,  I will close my U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service federal 
migratory bird banding 
permit.  This will conclude 45 years of banding which began March 20, 1961 
under Dr. Lee R. Herndon of 
Elizabethton, TN who sponsored my application and trained me.  
My federal permit no. 9074 is one of the lowest banding permit numbers in the 
nation.  Bob Sargent, 
who certifies banders and is one of the leading banders in the south, told me 
recently he had never seen a 
banding permit number with as few as four digits in length.  Dr. Herndon was 
6980 and I not
only had the good experience of his being my mentor but I also shared that 
number as a subpermit for three
years as no. 6980-G.

In addition to Lee Herndon,  I enjoyed visiting with, learning banding, 
exchanging techniques and getting
significant encouragement and materials from Tennessee's "supreme team" of 
banders.  First, and foremost,
Amelia Laskey of Nashville who donated tons of literature and gave me important 
sets of banding 
journals as well as needed advice.  Amelia, along with Dr. James Tanner, are 
the best ornithologists ever in
Tennessee.  She was Tennessee's first of three elected fellows of the American 
Ornithologists' Union. 
She was mentored by the famous Margaret Morse Nice of Chicago -- both enormous 
women in ornithology.  
Ben B. Coffey of Memphis was especially sharing with long phone conversations 
and suggestions.  
We were of no kin but called each other "cousins."   His global reputation was 
immense. His banding 
achievements in the Mid-South are rivaled by none.  Dr. Katherine Goodpasture 
of Nashville, who was  
tenacious, technical and a frequent bander and publisher like Laskey.  Laskey, 
Ben Coffey and Goodpasture are
the most prolific banders ever in Tennessee and among the best in America in 
their time.  Albert Ganier of 
Nashville took me under his wing for decades and opened door after door. His 
long letters about finding
raptor nests, how to climb and donations of publications were valuable.  Rick 
Knight, George Mayfield and 
Rad Mayfield have allowed me to share years in their net lanes and contributed 
to my banding 
knowledge and enjoyment.

During the late 1970's and early 1980's I had five federal subpermits under my 
master permit:

Bert Hale 1978-1984 (permit 9074-A) lives near Bluff City and is a former 
president of the Bristol Bird Club.
   
Ken Hale  1978 to 1983 (permit 9074-B) former turkey and deer trapper and 
wildlife tech with the Tennessee
    Wildlife Resources Agency and later manager of the Virginia Game 
Commission's Clinch Mountain Wildlife
    Management Area.  He has a degree in wildlife management from Tennessee 
Tech.  He practices law in Bristol.
   
Bob Duncan 1978 to 1980 (permit 9074-C)  Currently the Chief of the Wildlife 
Division of the Virginia Game
    Commission in Richmond, former supervising wildlife biologist for Southwest 
Virginia and former region
    research biologist with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency in East 
Tennessee. 
   
Dr. Tom Laughlin  1978 to 1984 (permit 9074-D) a faculty member of the 
Department of Biological Sciences
    at East Tennessee State University.  He earned his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech.  
He is from Kingsport. 

Rick Phillips  1978 to 1984 (permit 9074-E) Lives at Kingsport and a member of 
Bristol Birds Net.  A former
    research bird biologist with the U.S. Forest Service's Southern Forest 
Experimental Station at Clemson. 
   
With that great team,  here are just some of the high profile and curious 
species we have banded.  
All of these banded birds were within 50 miles of Bristol. The numbers of each 
species banded follows 
the names of the birds:

Ring-necked Pheasant 5 (young from a wild nesting population in Shady Valley)
Common Loon 1
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Green Heron 3
Northern Harrier 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 3
Cooper's Hawk 11
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Broad-winged Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 12
Rough-legged Hawk 2
Golden Eagle 2
American Kestrel  264 
Common Moorhen  2 (both in Bristol VA)
American Woodcock 3
Ring-billed Gull 3
Barn Owl 8
Eastern Screech Owl  83
Great Horned Owl  16
Barred Owl  2
N. Saw-whet Owl 1 (trapped with Rick Knight at Winged Deer Park in Johnson City 
/ his band used-- state's first low elevation 
    capture for banding)
Chuck-wills-widow (with Herbie Nunley near Bluff City in Sullivan Co.)
Whip-poor-will  1
Allen's Hummingbird 1(arranged capture and banding first ever Virginia record 
with Rick Knight, Richard Lewis, Dr. Van Remsen)
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-headed Woodpecker  1
Eastern Phoebe  145
Loggerhead Shrike  19
American Crow 13
Bank Swallow 1  (captured from nest at Austin Springs, Boone Lake)
Barn Swallow ~100
Brown-headed Cowbird  62
Purple Finch  493
Pine Siskins  420
Evening Grosbeak  93

I did not band the Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant or Northern Harrier.  
Those were banded by the subpermits
under my permit and with my bands.  I banded all the rest of the species listed 
but obviously my subpermits either helped
me or banded some of the birds on their own.

Larry McDaniel and I discovered a Red-necked Grebe at Elizabethton in the 90's 
and Rick Knight came to help capture the bird and
he brought a band and the bird was banded and released.  Likewise, Rick banded 
a nest of Cooper's Hawks that Larry and I discovered and Richard Lewis banded a 
nest of Cooper's Hawk found near Musick's Campground.  Richard banded young
for us from a Great Horned Owl nest near Tri-City Airport.

For several years I was a volunteer bander for the Virginia Game Commission 
helping trap and band waterfowl at Abingdon.  We mostly took Wood Ducks.  I 
also did the same for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency at David Crocket 
Lake in Greene County.  Ken Hale trapped and banded Ruffed Grouse and Wild 
Turkey as part of his duties and none of these numbers are reflected above.   
Along with many others in the region,  we have joined hummingbird banders to 
capture Allen's Hummingbird in
Johnson City and Rufous Hummingbirds all over the area.

Because of the high profile species, we have a very large number of recoveries, 
returns, recaptures and such of both birds we have banded and those banded by 
others throughout the eastern states.

I have never been a high-volume bander like a Rick Knight, Richard Lewis, Dave 
Vogt or the Mayfields.  I mainly banded raptors and some winter finches.  High 
numbers of Eastern Phoebes reflect a two-year nesting study in the region.

Nevertheless,  like most banders, there is a long list of woodpeckers, 
flycatchers, vireos, jays, swallows, chickadee, titmice, nuthatches, creepers, 
wrens, kinglets, doves, cuckoos, hummingbirds, swifts, nuthatches, thrushes and 
thrashers, warblers, vireos, sparrows, blackbirds and finches which have been 
banded at my fall banding stations and yard feeders and at the homes of 
cooperators.

I cannot mention each and every person who banded with me or helped me during 
nearly five decades of banding.  I do not have a list of them.

I am relative certain I banded the young from a nest of Common Ravens we 
climbed to twice at Pigeon Rock, Corn Valley, in Russell County, Va in the late 
60's but I was not able to lay my hands on the data so I chose to leave that 
species out of the list.  I have many good colored slide photos of that nest 
with both eggs and young.  There were many other times when we had Ospreys in 
captivity or found a nest of either the Black Vulture or Turkey Vulture where 
we were not able to band the young.  Vultures may not be banded because of 
problems caused by the bands to their legs.  I banded local breeding 
hummingbirds many times before a special permit was required to band hummers.

Thanks to everyone who has made this journey so rewarding and so enjoyable.  
There finally comes a time when my energy, health and other obligations make it 
no longer practical to continue being a bander.  It is a lot of work and 
responsibility.  It is also great fun and very challenging  --- especially the 
winter raptors, as many of you know.

Let's go birding......

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
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