[Bristol-Birds] Lifetime of bird banding concludes.
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 04:45:02 -0500
At the end of this month, I will close my U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service federal
migratory bird banding
permit. This will conclude 45 years of banding which began March 20, 1961
under Dr. Lee R. Herndon of
Elizabethton, TN who sponsored my application and trained me.
My federal permit no. 9074 is one of the lowest banding permit numbers in the
nation. Bob Sargent,
who certifies banders and is one of the leading banders in the south, told me
recently he had never seen a
banding permit number with as few as four digits in length. Dr. Herndon was
6980 and I not
only had the good experience of his being my mentor but I also shared that
number as a subpermit for three
years as no. 6980-G.
During the late 1970's and early 1980's I had five federal subpermits under my
master permit:
Bert Hale 1978-1984 (permit 9074-A) lives near Bluff City and is a former
president of the Bristol Bird Club.
He is on Bristol Birds Net.
Ken Hale 1978 to 1983 (permit 9074-B) former turkey and deer trapper and
wildlife tech with the Tennessee
Wildlife Resources Agency and later manager of the Virginia Game
Commission's Clinch Mountain Wildlife
Management Area. He has a degree in wildlife management from Tennessee
Tech. He practices law in Bristol.
Ken is on Bristol Birds Net.
Bob Duncan 1978 to 1980 (permit 9074-C) Currently the Chief of the Wildlife
Division of the Virginia Game
Commission in Richmond, former supervising wildlife biologist for Southwest
Virginia and former region
research biologist with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency in East
Tennessee.
Dr. Tom Laughlin 1978 to 1984 (permit 9074-D) a faculty member of the
Department of Biological Sciences
at East Tennessee State University. He earned his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech.
He is from Kingsport. He is
on Bristol Birds Net.
Rick Phillips 1978 to 1984 (permit 9074-E) Lives at Kingsport and a member of
Bristol Birds Net. A former
research bird biologist with the U.S. Forest Service's Southern Forest
Experimental Station at Clemson.
Rick is on Bristol Birds Net.
With that great team, here are just some of the high profile and curious
species we have banded. The numbers
of each species banded follows the names of the birds:
Ring-necked Pheasant 5 (young from a wild nesting population in Shady Valley)
Common Loon 1
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Green Heron 3
Northern Harrier 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 3
Cooper's Hawk 11
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Broad-winged Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 12
Rough-legged Hawk 2
Golden Eagle 2
American Kestrel 264 (Not a typo. We captured that many during winter field
efforts and from nests).
Common Moorhen 2 (both in Bristol VA)
American Woodcock 3
Ring-billed Gull 3
Barn Owl 8
Eastern Screech Owl 83
Great Horned Owl 16
Barred Owl 2
N. Saw-whet Owl 1 (trapped with Rick Knight at Winged Deer Park in Johnson City
/ his band used)
Chuck-wills-widow (with Herbie Nunley near Bluff City)
Whip-poor-will 1
Allen's Hummingbird 1(arranged capture and banding first ever Virginia record
with Rick Knight, Richard Lewis, Dr. Van Remsen)
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-headed Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 145
Loggerhead Shrike 19
American Crow 13
Bank Swallow 1 (captured from nest at Austin Springs, Boone Lake)
Barn Swallow ~100
Brown-headed Cowbird 62
Purple Finch 493
Pine Siskins 420
Evening Grosbeak 93
I did not band the Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant or Northern Harrier.
Those were banded by the subpermits
under my permit and with my bands. I banded all the rest of the species listed
but obviously my subpermits either helped
me or banded some of the birds on their own.
Larry McDaniel and I discovered a Red-necked Grebe at Elizabethton in the 90's
and Rick Knight came to help capture the bird and
he brought a band and the bird was banded and released. Likewise, Rick banded
a nest of Cooper's Hawks that Larry and I discovered and Richard Lewis banded a
nest of Cooper's Hawk found near Musick's Campground.
For several years I was a volunteer bander for the Virginia Game Commission
helping trap and band waterfowl at Abingdon. We mostly took Wood Ducks. I
also did the same for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency at David Crocket
Lake in Greene County. Ken Hale trapped and banded Ruffed Grouse and Wild
Turkey as part of his duties and none of these numbers are reflected above.
Along with many others in the region, we have joined hummingbird banders to
capture Allen's Hummingbird in
Johnson City and Rufous Hummingbirds all over the area.
Because of the high profile species, we have a very large number of recoveries,
returns, recaptures and such of both birds we have banded and those banded by
others throughout the eastern states.
I have never been a high-volume bander like a Rick Knight, Richard Lewis or Rad
Mayfield. I mainly banded raptors and some winter finches. High numbers of
Eastern Phoebes reflect a two year nesting study in the region.
Nevertheless, I have a long list of woodpeckers, flycatchers, vireos, jays,
swallows, chickadee, titmice, nuthatches, creepers, wrens, kinglets, doves,
cuckoos, hummingbirds, swifts, nuthatches, thrushes and thrashers, warblers,
vireos, sparrows, blackbirds and finches which have been banded at my fall
banding stations and yard feeders and at the homes of cooperators.
I cannot mention each and every person who banded with me or helped me during
nearly five decades of banding. I probably do not have a list of them all.
I am relative certain I banded the young from a nest of Common Ravens we
climbed to twice at Pigeon Rock, Corn Valley, in Russell County, Va in the late
60's but I was not able to lay my hands on the data so I chose to leave that
species out of the list. I have many good colored slide photos of that nest
with both eggs and young. There were many other times when we had Ospreys in
captivity or found a nest of either the Black Vulture or Turkey Vulture where
we were not able to band the young. Vultures may not be banded because of
problems caused by the bands to their legs. I banded local breeding
hummingbirds many times before a special permit was required to band hummers.
Thanks to everyone who has made this journey so rewarding and so enjoyable.
There finally comes a time when my energy, health and other obligations make it
no longer practical to continue being a bander. It is a lot of work and
responsibility. It is also great fun and very challenging --- especially the
winter raptors, as many of you know.
Let's go birding......
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
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