TN-Birders: On Saturday night we opened our first-ever Northern Saw-whet Owl banding station near Musick's Campground at South Holston Lake, about 1/2 mile south of the Virginia line in Tennessee. This is east of Bristol in Sullivan Co. After two nights of effort, we still have not caught a Saw-whet. We were up and running Saturday and Sunday nights. In 1995 we captured and banded one bird in one night of operation about 20 miles south at Johnson City in Washington Co., so we have a tiny bit of success under our belt. We still have visions of Saw-whets dancing thru our heads and we are encouraged to think that the next two weeks will bring us the peak. When Clair Mellinger body-slamed and banded 21 Saw-whets in Virginia northeast of us Saturday as the moon grew dark, we were encouraged the flood doors being open might swamp us with birds. We are discouraged but not defeated. Mellinger, of Harrisonburg, VA, had a very slow start to the fall migration of saw-whet owls at his station in Rockingham County, VA until someone opened the door Saturday night and let the owls out. Throughout the region (MD,WV) they had a good influx of owls. Before Saturday night, in Rockingham County, Mellinger had banded less than 20 owls. Saturday night they had 21 before midnight. Perhaps the cold front, the colder temperatures, or the lunar eclipse (!) brought them down. Who knows. We truly enjoyed operating our nets and station under the eclipse. We are especially grateful to the Tennessee Valley Authority and their staffers Bucky Edmondson and Hill Henry who have worked hard to help us get up and running. TVA Police Officer Jeff Johnson surprised us late Sunday when he checked in on us during his patrol rounds. They are out there getting their good police work done ! Those helping with the station have been Rack Cross, Don Holt, Virgil Carr, Sammy Cross, Richard Lewis, Wallace Coffey, Rick Knight, Carol Cross and Larry McDaniel. Let's go owling...... Wallace Coffey Bristol, TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================