[Bristol-Birds] BBC Burke's Garden trip Saturday
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:22:45 -0500
Hey Birders:
Don't forger that the 18th Annual Burke's Garden
Golden Eagle Field Trip to Tazewell County, VA is set
for Saturday, (Feb. 16), by the Bristol Bird Club.
President Dave Worley of
the BBC will lead the trip.
He is looking forward to a
fine field outing with several
Golden Eagles and the
Rough-legged Hawk is
another high probability
The weatherman has given
us a forecast to cheer about.
The temperatures should be
mild and the wind light
Wallace & Carolyn Coffey will meet any birders headed
that way at ETSU-Bristol Campus at 7 a.m. We will meet
any other interested birders at the Abingdon First Bank
& Trust parking lot on U.S. 19 just off West Main at
7:30 a.m. Car pooling can be arranged. If anyone
is interested, Carolyn and I can take two or three.
If you are small and flexible make that four :-)
Dave will be at Hardee's in Tazewell about 7:30 a.m.
if you want to meet up with him there for breakfast.
All of us will pause long enough at Hardee's to catch a
rest stop and grab a quick bite before heading up the
mountain into Burke's Garden. The first stop is at
Gose Mill pond.
Everyone, everywhere is invited to participate.
Almost every year Golden Eagles have been spotted
and the Rough-legged Hawk has been seen all but one
of the previous eight years.
This is a field trip that is all by car. No hiking. Too
large of an area to cover.
Bring your "family radios" so you can listen to the
communications between members of our party in
cars stretching along the beautiful roads. You will be
front row on all the great Golden Eagle and
Rough-legged Hawk opportunities.
This is a great tradition for the Bristol Bird Club.
Throw in several gorgeous Fox Squirrels and the
beauty of this great valley and you have a day afield
equal to none other in he region. Here is birding in this
almost volcano-like valley, surrounded by high mountains
with northern spruce. You and fellow birders will go
afield at 3,000 feet in the Allegheny Mountains.
We buy our lunch at a country store
and visit a U.S. Post Office that is lost in a time warp.
Also possible are Horned Larks and Common
Snipe. There was a dead Long-eared Owl found one
year. Also you will be able to enjoy the beautiful
winter farm scenes in this gorgeous garden spot.
Be sure and bring plenty of warm clothes,
gloves and caps because the conditions can
fool you even when it is suppose to be mild.
Burke's Garden is a fairly flat, elliptical high
mountain valley about eight miles long and four miles
wide. It's walled in on all sides by mountain ridges and
with a single narrow drainage. The anticline valley has
a floor elevation which varies from 3050 to 3200 feet.
Mountain elevations around the valley include 3800 to
3950 feet on the north at Garden and Round mountains,
4000 feet on the east, and south at Garden Mountain
and 4400 to 4700 feet on the west at Chestnut Ridge
and Beartown Mountain.
The valley was discovered by James Burke in
the 1740s and he settled the area in 1754 only to be
driven out a few year later by threats of the Shawnees.
Appalachian National Scenic Trail runs along Garden
Mountain on the southeast side of the valley.
As a natural refrigerator, it provides excellent habitat
for northern species, both during the breeding season
and in winter. Most of the valley floor is farm land.
Mature stands of white oaks with little to no understory
create great hunting perches for raptors and habitat
for Red-headed Woodpeckers which regularly winter
in the valley.
The many streams, mill pond and beaver ponds provide
habitat for waterfowl, including a few wintering species.
This is one of Virginia's most dependable areas to
see wintering Golden Eagles and Rough-legged Hawks
during January until mid-February. The Bald Eagle has
also been found here in winter.
A country store is open daily and provides a warm
stove, some prepared food, and a clean restroom.
Let's go birding.
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
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