[Bristol-Birds] Re: SHL Bald Eagle mystery discovers another chapter for history.

Wallace,
Being a former newspaper man you should know to check your facts before 
publishing. Neither I, nor my wife, who is co-regional editor of Virginia 
Birds, were ever informed about the eagle's nest on South Holston Lake. We, 
like everyone else on the Buchanan County Bird Club listserve, of which you are 
a subscriber, learned about the nest when Bob Riggs posted the information on 
February 28 of this year.

We have only had contact with Jean Montgomery, who is a very nice lady, a 
couple of times in the past year. At those times I never heard an eagle's nest 
mentioned. Perhaps she intended to tell me and forgot. I, along with other 
members of the Buchanan County Bird Club, have been searching for an eagle's 
nest in this end of the state. Had I heard of one I would definitely have gone 
to check it out.

In the future I would ask you to please refrain from publishing anything about 
me or the Buchanan County Bird Club without first confirming the information.

Roger Mayhorn
Compton Mt
Buchanan County VA 
 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Wallace Coffey 
  To: Bristol-birds 
  Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2009 9:22 PM
  Subject: [Bristol-Birds] SHL Bald Eagle mystery discovers another chapter for 
history.



  Members of the Russell County
  Bird Club listened with amazement
  while area birders told their stories
  as the intriguing mystery about
  the Bald Eagle nest at South 
  Holston Lake continued to be
  revealed.  It has come in bits and
  pieces over the past month.  The
  history of the nest is being written
  one chapter at a time.  The club
  gathered Sunday to see the nest.


  Jean Montgomery (left), who says she tried in
  vain to get others to help her verify the nest
  last June, is still puzzled as to why she was not
  given credibility when she told other birders.

  "Last summer, I told Bob Riggs I believed I had 
  found an eagle's nest here," she said. "I also 
  told Roger Mayhorn."  Montgomery, an active
  and long-time member of the Russell County
  club, was dismayed.  She says no one tried to
  help her.  None of them ever came to look, as
  far as she has known.  "No one believed me."

   Sunday, members of the club gathered at the lake house of Lebanon
   residents Sandy and Bill Lawson.  Across the lake they had a show
   worth writing home about.  Two majestic eagles were very active about
   the nest.  The birds stood on the nest, flew about it, evidently brooded
   young eaglets and one of the adults was chased by a Peregrine Falcon.

   It seems evident that only an extremely small number of people knew
   anything about this eagle nest during the past year.  It was not known
   to the majority of the Russell County Bird Club members.  

   Mayhorn, of Buchanan County, is a leader of that county's bird club
   and a Southwest Virginia regional editor of Virginia Birds, a quarterly
   journal of ornithological sightings published by the Virginia Society of
   Ornithology.  His position is to accumulate bird sightings from regional
   birders and compile and publish the records in the VSO journal.
   It is the cooperation and contributions of sightings by birders  that 
   make it possible for VSO to publish the journal.  The reports, like all
   such ornithological records, depend heavily upon field collaboration 
   by as many observers as can be made available.   

   Riggs, a state Conservation Police Officer, previously called 
   game wardens, is an education specialist with the Virginia Dept.
   of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF), working out of Marion.
   He is the founder of the Russell County Bird Club.  
    
  The photo at the
  left was taken 
  Sunday afternoon
  from the Lawson's
  lake house window
  and shows an adult
  eagle apparently
  brooding young in
  the nest while a 
  light rain fell in the
  area and the tree
  rocked gently in
  the wind.

  Members of the Russell County
  Bird Club who attended the outing
  were:  Carolyn Coffey, Wallace
  Coffey, Laverne Hunter, Tom
  Hunter, Bill Lawson, Sandy Lawson,
  Jean Montgomery, Samantha
  Montgomery, Dave Worley and
  Diana Worley.


   Let's go birding . . . .

   Wallace Coffey
   Bristol, TN

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