[Bristol-Birds] When BBC history was found on a club float boat field trip -- Eared Grebe 1994
- From: "BBC Net" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'bristol-birds'" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 7 Mar 2015 16:11:40 -0500
EARED GREBE TEAM CELEBRATED AFTER BIG FIND
BBC Eared Grebe float boat trip 1994.jpg
(L to R) Jay Jones, Wallace Coffey, Larry McDaniel, Jeff Larsen, Bob
Quillen, Karen Musick (Bristol Bird Club members)
Oct 2, 1994. The rarest bird ever found on a Bristol Bird Club field trip,
over
the club's nearly 65 years of history, showed up at the end of a float boat
birding field trip held at South Holston Lake on the first Sunday of October
1994.
It was a wonderful example of what can happen with novel and creative bird
club field trip planning and the many float boat field trips sponsored by
BBC during the past 20 years.
A light sprinkle of rain had begun to fall late in the afternoon with dark
clouds diminishing prospects of good birding and discouraging a fun trip.
Several
birders went on to Friendship Marina, not far off U.S. 421. It would not
hurt to
at least show up and see if the trip had been canceled. After all, BBC
member Lloyd Jones had gone to a lot of trouble to ask his brother, Jay
Jones,
to make available his float boat and get everything ready for the club.
Six birders, including Lloyd Jones, who is not shown above because he was
taking the
photo, surprised one another by their persistence. The trip was declared a
go.
It was fun being together. Another BBC field trip was underway. Rain had
not
chased the hardy little party home. The sprinkle stopped and birders pushed
on
up the impoundment north of US 421 bridge, beyond Observation Knob Park,
and into Spring Creek not far from Musick's Lakeshore Campground.
Nothing worth writing home about was seen as the boat turned back near the
Spring Creek Bridge and Va. Rt. 75.
Reaching the main channel, the boat crossed into Tennessee waters and
started
its return trip. Suddenly a grebe was seen. Everyone knew instantly it was
very different than anything expected. For that matter, different than
anything
seen on South Holston Lake.
Lloyd Jones was the first to call out Eared Grebe. Of course field guides
were
out so everyone could get a satisfying comparison. All the birders knew
this was really special. It was an excellent bird. None of them had seen
one in this region of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.
There was one previous record from almost 20 years prior. Dr. Fred Alsop
had found a single bird at Patrick Henry Lake in Sullivan Co., April 3,
1977.
There was much excitement among the South Holston group. Everyone knew
it was a great, great bird. No one knew how significant this find would
turnout. No one knew this species would come back every winter for the next
20 years
The motor was shutoff and the birders poised for their historical
photo. No one would want to forget this fun find, this great grebe, this
magic moment!
Birders far and wide were surprised. It was immediately broadcast over
the "Voice of the Naturalist" Rare Bird Alert (RBA) sponsored by the
Audubon
Naturalist Society of the Central Atlantic States to birders in Maryland,
Virginia, Washington D.C. and Delaware. State internet bird lists were not
operating in Tennessee or Virginia at that time. We had nothing like
Bristol Birds Net. The Wood Thrush Shop at Nashville, TN soon had it
up and running on the Tennessee RBA phone recording.
To access such information, birders telephoned long distance to the RBAs
and waited until they could get past the busy signal as birders dialed and
dialed to get the latest rare bird reports. It was thrilling to hear the
South
Holston Lake Eared Grebe report coming over the phone with such fanfare.
Birders gathered around the tape player at the very next meeting of the
Bristol Bird Club to enjoy hearing the reports being played back from tapes
made from the phone. We knew birders from all over were focused
on what we had found.
All grew quiet on the Eared Grebe scene. But not for long. An almost
unbelievable event awaited us just months away.
BBC member Mary Jane Erwin of Kingsport, and her friend Gerald Johnson
of Birmingham, saw another Eared Grebe at the same location Oct. 2, 1995
one year to the date of the first on. They did not know the can of worms
they were opening. We were all astonished. How amazing was this ?
What did this mean ?
Birders swarmed over the area. Five days later Rob Biller and Larry
McDaniel found EIGHT there on Oct 7. That was a state record high
count ! The next day Judy Musick of Marion, VA and McDaniel
discovered the birds in Washington County, VA waters.
Karen Quesenbery, Ramsey White, Ron Carrico, Marty Hubber, Jo Anne
Detta, Rick Knight, Frank Ward, Gary Wallace, Larry Routledge, James
Brooks and Audrey Hoff of Knoxville were soon among the those flocking
to get a look or get a new state bird or new life bird.
In November, the Eared Grebes were still being found and birders were now
making trips in from several neighboring states. On the 12th there had
been a record NINE found. On that day Bonita Frazier, Mark Frazier,
Louise Tilson, Coffey, David Trently of Knoxville, Mark Churchill of Athens,
GA, Andy Jones, Carrico and Biller were there to establish the record.
The Washington DC based Voice of the Naturalist was now suggesting
that the species would winter there. Local birders were pondering if it
would be possible to get an Eared Grebe on the Bristol Christmas Bird
Count. Hmmmm ? It happened a month later on Dec. 28 with 6 Eared Grebes
on the count. Spirits were high ! The grebes have been seen
on several of the CBCs since then with the high count being 10 birds in
2005.
But wait ! There's more !
The maximum count at South Holston is 21 Eared Grebes seen Oct 9,1996
at Musick's Campground by Rob Biller, Ron Carrico, Wallace Coffey and
Larry McDaniel. That is a state record high count for the species in both
Tennessee and Virginia.
Coffey and Chris O'Bryan found two bird 31 Aug 2004 at Musick's
Campground, then representing the earliest fall record. McDaniel and Coffey
once saw a bird in full breeding plumage at South Holston in May.
Eared Grebes have awaited birders at Musick's Campground every year
for 20 consecutive winters since 1994. How long does this continue ?
Archives of the Bristol Bird Club.
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