Be sure to bring your birding walkie-talkie radios on the BBC's Burke's
Garden
Golden Eagle field trip this coming Saturday. Now is a good time to
buy one.
Walkie-talkie radios,
operating on the Family Radios
Service (FRS) are easily and cheaply available at
Wal-Marts, Kmarts, pharmacies and similar outlets.
The Burke's Garden field operation channel for this
Saturday will be our usual Ch. 5. We have used the
radios and this channel for a decade.
Because most of our birding in Burke's Garden is by car
and we sometimes have a very long line of vehicles
where you cannot see the lead car from back in the string of cars,
persons
on either end can radio ahead or hear from behind good birds being
spotted.
You often know what the bird is and where it is before your can reach
the point
where you unload.
There is little public access land in Burke's Garden so we do not have
locations
where we can hike or walk while birding except along the right-of-ways of
roads.
We are very welcomed by the residents of the valley because we have been
making these birding trips for more than 20 years. In the last few
years, we have
been going twice each year -- the 2nd Sat. in Nov. and the 2nd Sat. in
Feb.
Birders coming to Burke's Garden from a five-state area each winter are
an
important source of revenue for the country store.
At times, you may be a hundred yards or more from the person who is
pointing
out the location of a very good bird or announcing the find of an
excellent
species. At other times the field trip leader may announce that we
are
returning to our cars to move on. You may not be within hearing
range or you
may be slightly out of sight of cars being loaded.
Even if you are too shy to say anything over the radio, you can
at least keep up with the regular communications.
We compile our daily field list as we go from birders along the line
passing
forward birds being seen to the person keeping the master list.
Just a tip for anyone who wants to purchase and use an FRS
warlike-talkie
in Burke's Garden.
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
