[Bristol-Birds] Historical Snippet Sept 27, 1959
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:00:09 -0400
BBC Snippet
Sept 27, 1959 was a day that changed my life forever. Little did I know
what the next five decades of bird study would have in store. I had been
birding just over a year.
At 8 a.m. I was watching for a vehicle near the old Bristol Bridge over the
Watauga River where 19E crossed into Elizabethton.
The information I
had was that I was
watching for a birder
by the name of
Dr. L.B. Herndon.
He was in a car with
the Tennessee-shaped
license plate bearing
a prefix of 21 (which
stood for Carter Co.
(then the 21st largest
county by population in the state). The tag number would be 21-7063. It would
be a green Buick. If I had any trouble, I had his home address and also his
home phone numbers, LI-2-4661. You pronounced that numbers as Lincoln 2-
4661.
I had started birding July 25, 1958 at Bristol Virginia with a teenage former
neighbor, Hank Woodward. Hank's name was at the top. He was the first birder
I ever knew and I began my life list in his back yard -- stunned by the sight
of
a Pileated Woodpecker. I had put Hank's contact information in my field guide
and now Herndon's was just below it. All of this is written on the last page
of the
first bird book I ever owned -- a Peterson's field guide.
I knew how important Dr. Herndon was. He was the editor of the Tennessee
journal of ornithology -- The Migrant. But he also was a U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service bird bander.
In 1955, Dr. Lee R. Herndon of Elizabethton,
became the region's first bird bander. In the
years to come, he banded many thousands
of birds there and along the river north of the
city. More than anything else, he made an
enormous contribution to a great lineage of
banders who began under him or his influence.
I did not know that I was stepping into a fraternity
of birders who would become near blood-line
descendents of his generosity and his
influence.
I soon found his vehicle and crawled in
to shake hands. We drove slowly up the
Watauga River to a place called County Farm
-- it should be a National Historic Park :-)
Beginning a month before I found my way to
all this in the latter part of August 1959, the
Elizabethton Chapter of T.O.S., using five
mist nets, netted and banded birds every
week-end and extended that in to early winter, except Oct. 24 and 25 until Nov.
22.
Netting was carried out on the property of Howard Langridge and Mrs.
Ruth D. Hughes, T.O.S. Members and at the County Farm. The farm
was located on the city side of what has been called Great Lakes pond
(Stoney Creek).
The nets were located in woodland, old weed fields and along stream borders.
The stream beds were entirely void of water during the entire period
although there was intermittent light rainfall from time to time.
Fourteen members and guests (many from the BBC) attended the nets and
assisted with the operation there that fall. The nets were visited at short
intervals to avoid injury to the birds and to reduce predation to a minimum.
This period covered the greater portion of the fall migration of most
of the passerine birds. Many species were missed because the habitats
were not suitable for all species; nets were in operation only in the
daylight hours; some species migrate largely at night and only a very
limited area was covered by the nets.
That fall 59 species and about 856 individuals were netted and banded.
Repeat individuals (those which had already been banded) consisted mostly of
permanent, summer or winter residents of the area and amounted to only
17% of the total. Some of the more rare species netted were: Philadelphia
Vireo, Nashville Warbler, Orange-crowned Warblers and Lincoln's Sparrow.
The numbers banded by species in descending totals were: American
Goldfinch, 196 (7); Song Sparrow, 101 (14); Cardinal, 74 (57); Swainson's
Thrush 70 (1); Field Sparrow, 54 (6); Indigo Bunting, 46 (5) and White-throated
Sparrow, 43 (20). Numbers in parentheses indicate the numbered repeats.
During most of September Dr. Herndon was cooperating with the U. S. Fish
and Wildlife Service in what was called "Operation Recovery" where other
banders along the Appalachian Mountain Chain were banding during the
same period and with the hope that some banded birds might be intercepted
somewhere along the migration route. I don't many banded birds were caught.
It was a warm and overcast day with scattered showers. Members of the
Bristol Bird Club had been going there almost every weekend to spend a
day helping gather birds from the nets. The birds would be placed in paper
bags and the bags marked. They would be placed in a shaded place. My
job eventually became a runner to gather up the bags of birds and deliver
them to the processing table where measurements, age, sex and such
were determined and a federal bird band placed on the leg, each with its
own distinctive number and instructions if found.
Birders were coming and going all day because the Elizabethton Chapter of TOS
was having its fall field days which drew birders not only from all of the
surrounding
bird clubs but also from as far away as Knoxville and Oak Ridge. So birders
were dropping in to see the banding operation and say hello as they took
breaks.
It turned out to be my second best day for seeing new species. Birds I had
never seen before but many I held that day included: Gray-cheeked Thrush,
Oliver-backed Thrush (now Swainson's Thrush), Tennessee Warbler,
Philadelphia Vireo, Cape May Warbler, Nashville Warbler and Rose-breasted
Grosbeaks.
I left at 6 p.m. but not before someone from Kingsport gave me a copy of the
schedule for Audubon Screen Tours, a popular touring program which the
Audubon Society sent to Kingsport a few times a year. I loved the idea
and put the dates on my calendar.
Little did I know, that one day I would eventually have an hour to sit down
backstage at one of the screen tours and chat very informally with the author
of the field guide I carried that day at County Farm -- I would enjoy the almost
breath taking company of Roger Tory Peterson. Oh man! That was really big
back then. Still is for me today.
I was so impressed with the banding at County Farm. I went home and couldn't
get the banding out of my mind. It haunted me day and night. Soon I figured out
that I could take an aluminum pie plate and cut the bottom out, put it in our
typewriter and bang numbers into it while it was set in the stencil mode. I
cut
them out with scissors and made my own bird bands. I trapped a few common
yard birds and placed my bands on them and some of them were caught again
in my traps and that was a real thrill. I only wanted to know how long they
would
be around and if the White-throated Sparrows would be back the following year.
In late March 1961 I brought in the
morning mail and was shocked. I
had a letter from the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service. When I opened
it I unfolded my own permit to
capture migratory birds for
scientific banding purposes. I
stood and stared - Permit 6980-G.
Someone told Dr. Herndon I was
making my own bands from a pie
plate and banding birds. He was so
touched that he contacted the bird
banding lab and applied for a permit
so I could begin banding birds. He never told me he had done that. It was to be
a surprise. Wow! Was that a surprise. I still think of that thoughtful gift.
One year ago, I ended a lifetime as a bander and put up my equipment after
45 years with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service federal migratory bird banding
program. It conclude a journey which began March 20, 1961 under Dr. Lee R.
Herndon. I hope he knows how much I appreciated his kind help.
Three years after Herndon got me a sub-permit under his 6980 master permit, I
struck out on my own as federal master permit 9074. It was one of the lowest
banding permit numbers in the nation when I retired it.
I went off alone because Dr. Herndon had no interest in banding larger birds
such as hawks and owls. He did not have band sizes for the larger birds. I
wanted to band hawks, owls and eagles. I needed to have my own bands. I
needed my own master permit to do that.
When my banding life was over, the tally for such species was: 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 (not a typo), Barn Owl 8, Eastern Screech Owl 83,
Great Horned Owl 16 and Barred Owl 2. Some of these were banded by my
subpermits working with me.
Dr. Herndon's influence and concern for working with others has been handed
down from generation to generation of birders and bird banders,
BANDERS IN THE HERNDON LINEAGE
(There have been other short time sub-permits with these
master permits)
Dr. Lee R. Herndon (Area's First Bander) - Master Permit 6980 (1955-1978)
Dr. Herndon Sub-permits:
J. Wallace Coffey sub-permit 6980-G, 1961-1964
Coffey Master Permit (9074) 1964-2007
Coffey Sub-permits:
Ken Hale 1978-1983
Rick Phillips 1978-84
Dr. Tom Laughlin 1978-1984
Bert Hale 1978-1984
Herbert W. Nunley sub-permit 1961-1975
Enno vanGelder sub-permit 1961-1965
Dr. Charles R. Smith sub-permit 1963-1971
Dr. Gary Wallace sub-permit 1969-1978
Dr. Wallace Master Permit 1978-1996
Dr. Wallace sub-permits:
Rick Knight sub-permit 1980-1996
Rick Knight Master Permit 1996-2008
Richard Lewis sub-permit 1978-1996
Richard Lewis Master Permit 1996-2008
INDEPENDENT REGIONAL BANDERS
Dr. Richard Peake -- Master Permit 1975-1980
Dr. Steve Hopp -- Master Permit 1985-1994
Dr. Hopp Sub-permits:
Alice Kirby sub-permit 1990-1994
Carol Boone sub-permit 1990-1992
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's go birding.......
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
from the archives of the Bristol Bird Club
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