[Bristol-Birds] BBC Historical Snippet - Feb 23, 1991
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:43:06 -0500
BBC Snippet
Feb. 23, 1991. BBC President Ken Hale planned and provided leadership
for the club's first annual winter Golden Eagle field trip to Burke's Garden.
Such caravans of birders going there from bird clubs were scare if nonexistent
20 years ago. He guided the trips for years.
BBC birders were well aware of the large numbers of Golden Eagles wintering
throughout the Clinch Mountain range of Russell and Tazewell counties in
Southwest Virginia.
Lilly's Trading Post in Washington County at the intersection of Rich Valley
Rd.
(Va. Rt. 700) and US 19 had a mounted Golden Eagle displayed above the store
shelves when we were there Oct. 22, 1964. Harry Jessee, an employee, told
Wallace Coffey that in the 1930's he had trapped 12 to 15 of the birds in the
area
of Elk Garden in Russell County. At that time he lived in Lebanon. Harry's
father was at the store that day and said the bird on display had come from Elk
Garden.
Ken Hale had much experience with Golden Eagles and Bald Eagles along Clinch
Mountain, and Burke's Garden. He wrote many field notes
about his observations and, on one occasion with Rick Phillips, they watched a
Golden Eagle in almost free fall into the road at Tumbling Creek to kill a
Groundhog.
With a spotting scope, they watched it enjoy a leisurely meal.
Ken was a wildlife management graduate from Tennessee Tech University and
the wildlife manager area supervisor at Tumbling Creek and Laurel Bed
Lake. He had banded a Golden Eagle in the area. Coffey had banded one at Roan
Mountain, NC. Golden Eagles were high on the watch list.
The BBC had carefully
compiled and compared
results of eight Christmas
counts across the region.
It had not escaped BBC
that Sarah Cromer and
the Clinch Valley Bird
Club at Tazewell
had reported one
or two Golden Eagles
nearly every year
for at least six years
during the period
1983-1989. Sarah
told us they were mostly
coming from Burke's
Garden as were the Rough-legged Hawks. They had seen Golden Eagles
there for years.
Early on BBC carefully mapped all of the sites various species were
frequenting in the valley.
From the early mapping efforts two of the most exciting finds during
those years turned out to be owls. Dr. Fred Alsop spotted a Short-eared
Owl near the Gose Mill pond on March 10, 1991. The BBC plucked a
dead Long-eared Owl from a fence, Jan. 27, 1996. Ken Hale retrieved
that bird and was determined to be an after the hatching year male. A
careful search of that vicinity along Back Road for another bird at a
roost site never found another Long-eared.
On Saturday morning, Feb. 23, 1991, BBC set out for what would be
two decades of annual winter pilgrimages to Burke's Garden. That first
trip stopped at Abingdon and Hansonville to meet other birders who
wanted to join in. In the next few years, birders came from across
Tennessee and Virginia and from neighboring North Carolina to join
the search for eagles.
Over the following years, bird clubs from the Carolinas, Virginia, West
Virginia, Southwest Virginia and Tennessee made trips there
with their clubs to see the eagles. A group from Knoxville had planned
a visit for late this month.
Of all the great memories of birding in Burke's Garden, came on one
great day when many birders were standing in the middle of Back Road
not far from the rock walled cemetery. Suddenly, someone shouted
look coming here. Straight down the road from about a hundred yards
away, there were three big raptors flying right at us. They were not
more than 50 to a hundred feet above the road. They kept coming
straight on. One Bald Eagle, one Golden Eagle, one Rough-legged
Hawk -- all flying in formation side by side at the same height and
right at us. Without a cue, all of the birders let down their binoculars
and began to cheer as they floated right above us, passing light three
fighters planes flying over the Super Bowl. the birders began to cheer
and whistle and then a nice round of applause as they drifted beyond.
Ann and Grady McRae were there from the Bibbee Nature Club at
Bluefield, WVA. Birders didn't forgot the look on their
faces at the great showing of enthusiasm. They had never seen
birders behave like that. Few have since.
On Feb. 16 the Bristol Bird Club goes again for its 18th consecutive
winter Golden Eagle and Rough-legged Hawk trip to Burke's Garden.
Everyone is invited to join in. You always have been !
From the archives of the Bristol Bird Club.
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