Bristol Area Birders, Spring migration and the return of resident birds to the area is one of the most exciting times for birders. April is the month that best reflects that surge. In 2006 we saw a significant increase in the number of posts you folks contributed to Bristol Birds Net and your fellow birders of the region. The Bristol Birds Net covers eleven counties in Northeast Tennessee and nine counties in Southwest Virginia. Among the many factors that influence the number of birders in areas is the population. Of course the more people the more birders. The size of each county and the density of people speak to just a few of the factors which reflect birding. There are many, many more which are too numerous to address here. I have chosen population, square miles and density of population as a few easy and simple factors to consider. The net has lots of bird posts from the Tri-City area counties of Washington VA, Sullivan, Carter and Washington TN. While this area has significant population and density, it also has some of the region's best habitat. Look at the five-year trend for Bristol Birds Net posts and then compare the counties: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bristol-Birds Area Population by counties by county Sullivan Co TN 152498 Washington Co TN 110996 Washington Co VA 69338 Greene Co TN 64718 Hamblen Co TN 59489 Carter Co TN 58622 Hawkins Co TN 55851 Jefferson Co TN 47593 Wise Co VA 45497 Cocke Co TN 34675 Smyth Co VA 32538 Russell Co VA 28893 Buchanan Co VA 25200 Lee Co VA 23846 Scott Co VA 22982 Grainger Co TN 21928 Johnson Co TN 18049 Unicoi Co TN 17703 Grayson Co VA 16490 Dickenson Co VA 16177 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bristol-Birds Area Square Miles by counties in county Greene Co TN 622 Washington Co VA 576 Scott Co VA 537 Buchanan Co VA 504 Hawkins Co TN 487 Russell Co VA 475 Smyth Co VA 452 Grayson Co VA 443 Lee Co VA 437 Cocke Co TN 434 Sullivan Co TN 413 Wise Co VA 412 Carter Co TN 341 Dickenson Co VA 332 Washington Co TN 326 Johnson Co TN 298 Grainger Co TN 280 Jefferson Co TN 274 Unicoi Co TN 186 Hamblen Co TN 161 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bristol-Birds Area Population by counties per sq. mile Sullivan Co TN 370.6 Hamblen Co TN 361.0 Washington Co TN 328.5 Carter Co TN 166.4 Jefferson Co TN 161.8 Washington Co VA 120.4 Wise Co VA 110.4 Hawkins Co TN 110.1 Greene Co TN 101.2 Unicoi Co TN 94.9 Cocke Co TN 77.3 Grainger Co TN 73.7 Smyth Co VA 73.2 Russell Co VA 63.9 Johnson Co TN 58.6 Lee Co VA 54.0 Buchanan Co VA 53.5 Dickenson Co VA 49.4 Scott Co VA 43.6 Grayson Co VA 40.5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The data is from the U.S. Census 2004 online info. The cities of Bristol Virginia and Norton have been included in their surrounding county data of Washington Co., VA and Wise Co., VA respectively. Let's go birding..... Wallace Coffey Bristol, TN