[Bristol-Birds] Soups 'n Sparrows February Birding Festival, Feb 13, South Holston Dam
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:21:22 -0500
Soups 'n Sparrows
A February Birding Festival
Saturday, Feb 13th, 9 a.m.
South Holston Dam Reservation
at the Weir Dam & Vicinity
Birders from across the region
will want to remember having been
a first-year-festival birder by participating
in Saturday's Bristol Bird Club's first
annual Soups 'n Sparrows birding festival
to be held at the South Holston Dam TVA
reservation area. It is an all comers event.
rain, snow or shine. Only two participants
will need to show up for the festival to be launched. No fees. No reservations.
This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count and those of you who wish
to include this Saturday and/or weekend in that will be able to do that and we
can register the weekend with the Cornell program.
The late announcement and details for this event were due to last-minute
planning which was to take advantage of the South Holston Ruritan all-day
Bean and Soup Supper opportunity as well as a late-developing find of
the American Tree Sparrow which some of our birders would enjoy seeing.
Our target bird will be the American Tree Sparrow found at the South Holston
Reservation last weekend by Mike Sanders and Gary Cooper. The photo in
this email is one of two birds coming to Richard Kretz's feeder in Russell
County and take Thursday morning. There may be a few more or many on the
TVA properties at South Holston. This appears to be an influx species across
much of the southern range of this sparrow. It is a rare irruptive species
which
is usually found in association with very cold and snow periods. Not only has
it been found in Russell County, VA this year but also in several regional
states
and the great valley of Virginia to our north.
You can actually begin birding the South Holston lake reservation anytime after
daylight Saturday and continue until dark, if you wish. Our headquarters
will be at the Weir Dam Parking Lot with ample parking and warm, clean and
spacious restrooms. The official rally time for anyone who wants to meet others
there will be 9 a.m. However bring your cell phones and call up other birders
on
the area or watch for cars along the roads or birders looking for the tree
sparrow.
You may also choose to bring your family two-way radios and we'll try to have
someone on Channel 5. Just make do. Call Wallace at 423-360-2532 for cell
connection and other information. Cell connection is not great on all of the
area but you might find connections. Bring friends of family and remember the
young kids eat free at the supper.
Beginning at 11 a.m., the great
membership of the South Holston
Ruritan Club will have their annual
Bean and Soup Supper just around
the corner from the Weir Dam.
This is a long-standing and popular
event to which people coming from
all over the region to eat the
famous beans, soup, stew and
whatever all day long. It is truly
all you can eat, including maybe
30 recipes of soup from
the dozens of crock pots, drinks,
delicious deserts, crackers and
the fixins for one simple door price.
Nothing beats hot beans and
soup or stew after a cold winter
morning of birding nearby -- just
out the doorstep of the club.
The modern and neat Ruritan
Building is located on Meadow
Creek Rd. just off Emmett Rd
as you drive from US 421 hwy
down to the weir dam. At the
last and main intersection before
entering the TVA reservation.
turn left on Meadow Creek Rd.
and drive maybe 200 yards.
Here birders can gather at the long rows of tables to chow down, rest
or simply hang out with wonderful people and other birders. We are
Dutch all the way here. Birders who are not able to go afield may want
to drop in just for soup. At least your pay at the door can be considered
a donation to the Ruritan's always-loyal education scholarships they
give annual to local high school youth who are heading to college. Please
do not attempt to come in and sit around unless you pay the door fee.
It is not about selling soup. It is a fund raiser for scholarships.
Many of us will get there close to 11 a.m. in order to have our pick of
almost any one of the fabulous soups, stews, beans, etc. The very
best are in demand. Lots of people will be there so parking is required
along the road at peak times. This is a wonderful place. Johnny Wood
of WCYB-TV5 is frequently there and you can say hello to this neat
guy who has been a participant on the Bristol Christmas Bird Counts
for nearly a decade, some years past.
If anyone finds the American Tree Sparrow, get the word out quickly
by cell phones, family radios, runners, waving flags, going to get other
parties, etc. Birding parties will be very loose. You can just walk in
or out on any group you see anywhere. Stay as long as you like and
move to other groups. There are no assigned leaders but we'll try
to help everyone.
We are generally going to informally compile by passing field cards,
telephones calls and email. BBC can let this become the beginning of a
list or eventual field card of Birds of the South Holston Weir. We have
already spent years mapping Osceola Island so we can make references
to various areas. It has been on of Cornell's Birds in Forested Landscape
survey sites established some years ago by Ron Harrington and Wallace
Coffey. There is no charge or fee to participate in the Great Backyard
Bird Count.
We will eventually present a fun memory certificate to the first birder
or birders who finds the tree sparrow and can show it to others or take
an adequate, documented photo this weekend. The length of the day
depends upon a lot of things so if you come or go at any hour dawn to
dark just remember to make the best of whatever you find in the way
of birders, birding but keep records of what you see.
We mainly intend to bird the South Holston Dam Reservation which is
a big area. The red lines represent a rough boundary of the reservation.
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