[Bristol-Birds] Mark Simpson post to the CarolinaBirds listserv regarding Fred Behrend

From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2011 21:09:27 -0400
The following is a post to the CarolinaBirds listserv made by Mark Simpson,
who in 1992, authored "Birds of the Blue Ridge Mountains" published by the
University of North Carolina Press.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marcus Simpson" 
To: "CarolinaBirds" 
Sent: September 29, 2011 12:08
Subject: Fwd: [TN-Bird] Bristol Bird Club Mendota hawkwatch getting great 
flights !


> Interesting note from Wallace Coffey including an account of the early events 
> in establishing autumn hawk watches in the southern Appalachians. Most 
> birders in the Carolinas probably remember Fred Behrend for his work at Roan 
> Mountain, particularly his discovery of Snow Buntings on the grass balds 
> north of Carvers Gap.
> 
> Mark
> 
> ----- Forwarded Message -----
> From: "Wallace Coffey" 
> To: "TN-birds" 
> Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 11:21:04 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: [TN-Bird] Bristol Bird Club Mendota hawkwatch getting great flights !
>  
> The Bristol Bird Club's sponsored Mendota Fire Tower Hawkwatch 
> is having a nice year with great flights for the past 10 days.  This 
> hawkwatch was the cornerstone of the great Tennessee Ornithological 
> Society annual statewide hawk count for many years until TOS quit 
> reporting the fall results and eventually the statewide project was 
> abandoned. 
>  
> Here is a look at the hawks counted there each day for the past 10 
> days.  The BBC effort is coordinated by Tom Hunter of the club who 
> has been keeping the vigil and the counts there since late August. 
>  
> Sep 19 =    827 
> Sep 20 =    287 
> Sep 21 =      21 
> Sep 22 =    221 
> Sep 23 =    175 
> Sep 24 =    419 
> Sep 25 =  1477 
> Sep 26 =  2539 
> Sep 27 =    565 
> Sep 28 =  1557 
>  
> 10-Day total for all diurnal raptors = 7,867 
> Month of Sep Broad-winged Hawk total = 9,330 
> 
> 
> You can survey this year's monthly and day-by-day totals and details for our 
> Mendota lookout at: 
> 
> http://hawkcount.org/month_summary.php?PHPSESSID=b2eb5deb1ae5a23e55dcf30171c5ba85
>  
> 
> MENDOTA HAWK WATCH HISTORY: 
> 
> Birders and other curious nature observers have gathered atop Clinch Mountain 
> above Mendota to watch the annual spectacle of massive fall hawk migration 
> for more than 50 years. 
> 
> In the late 1940's, bird watchers from East Tennessee, led by Fred W. Behrend 
> of Elizabethton, had begun to search diligently in the mountains of Southwest 
> Virginia, East Tennessee and Western North Carolina in hopes of discovering 
> passage flights of migrating hawks. 
> 
> For more than a decade, famous lookouts in Pennsylvania had been observing 
> and reporting flights but nothing was known about their flight paths thru the 
> southern Appalachian Mountains. 
> 
> The discovery of Clinch Mountain as a hawk migration flyway occurred 
> September 23, 1950. Stephen M. Russell, a Bristol Bird Club member and high 
> school student from Abingdon, Va., discovered a sensational flight of 627 
> Broad-winged Hawks at Hayter Knob Fire Tower in Washington County, VA. 
> 
> Fred W. Behrend was the first observer to reach Mendota Fire Tower to count 
> hawks when he saw 65 Broad-winged Hawks there on September 20, 1952. 
> 
> Thomas Finucane arrived at Mendota Fire Tower lookout on September 15, 1957 
> to observe the migration. The following year he began regular coverage at 
> Mendota and continued to do so for more than a quarter century 
> 
> Regular coverage at Mendota has continued since 1958. Among those with long 
> tenure coordinating and compiling annual records have been Thomas W. Finucane 
> of Kingsport, TN, Holmes Roylston of Bristol, VA, Eugene E. Scott of 
> Nickelsville, VA, and Violet and George Larkin of Kingsport. Ron Harrington, 
> Bristol, VA has coordinated the count for eight years. 
> 
> In the fall of 2002, the Bristol Bird Club assumed responsibility for 
> promoting and coordinating coverage and record keeping for the Mendota Hawk 
> Watch. 
> 
> Bob Quillen, a member of the Bristol Bird Club, had the longest tenure at the 
> Mendota Hawk Count. He participated regularly for 44 years. 
> 
> Clinch Mountain is a 150 mile long ridge that runs from near Burke's Garden 
> in Tazewell County, Virginia to Blaine, Tennessee. It runs generally 
> Northeast to Southwest and divides the Clinch River drainage to the north and 
> the Holston River drainage to the south. 
>  
> The site is on the Russell and Washington County lines and is at an elevation 
> of 3000 feet As is usual with a fire tower location there is a 360 degree 
> view with Moccasin Valley and Pine Mountain to the North and Mendota and the 
> Holston River to the south. 
> 
> Access to this site requires a moderately strenuous 25 minute hike on the old 
> fire tower access road. There are no facilities so be sure to bring water, 
> sunscreen, raingear, chair, snacks and lunch and binoculars. There are no 
> restrooms. 
>  
> Let's go birding . . . . 
>  
> Wallace Coffey 
> Bristol, TN 
>
[Bristol-Birds] Mark Simpson post to the CarolinaBirds listserv regarding Fred Behrend

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