[Bristol-Birds] agritoruism for Golden-winged Warblers only $5.00 per person

  • From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 29 May 2014 21:07:18 -0400

ASHE & WATAUGA COUNTIES, NC

29 August 2014

 

This morning was spent touring Golden-winged Warbler habitat along the steep

and high-elevations of the Western North Carolina mountains.  Most of this
area

is very close to the Tennessee state line which made it all the more
relevant to

Northeast Tennessee.  Jim Ratchford of the Highlands Audubon Society chapter

at Boone provided the very knowledgeable leadership.  Most fascinating was a

visit to one of the state-promoted "agritourism" farms managed by a
farmer-type

landowner who charges a $5.00 per person fee to bird on his 70-acre farm
which

is home to many Golden-winged Warblers.  The state of North Carolina has
actually

passed a law that makes any person entering such "agritourism" lands
responsible

for their own welfare and safety.  The fee-payer cannot hold the landowner
libel

for any injury or death while birding the site. There is a network of
mountain trails

leading down through bogs and fields of the farm into some of the best
habitat.

The owners are Brent Cochran and his wife Susan Wright.  They also manage 

gardens and such for cut flowers they sell commercially.  Each year, they
cut

woody vegetation and other needed vegetation to manage an excellent rotation

of shrubby growth that provides nesting habitat for the Golden-winged
Warbles.

This species is among the most imperiled birds in Eastern North America.

 

 

GWWA habitat Watauga Co NC 29 May 2014.jpg

Agritourism site GWWA Ashe Co NC 29 May 2014.jpg

  I was able to drive my 4-wheel-drive vehicle over the   paths leading thru
the 

 habitat.    Curtis Smalling, Director of Land Bird Conservation at the
Audubon 

 North Carolina office in Boone has been a close friend of the couple's for

many years and played an advisory role in the farm becoming a reality.

 

GWWA ecoagriculture former Ashe Co. NC 29 May 2014.jpg

 In the red shirt at the right is Bent Cochran who is the farm owner and
manager

of the flower farm which he calls Shady Grove Gardens and Nursery.  With

him is Jim Ratchford, an outstanding and experienced birder of the region.

This is the website for the gardens and nursery
http://www.shady-grove-gardens.com/

It also explains in more detail birding on the farm.

 

Wallace Coffey

Bristol TN

 


 

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  • » [Bristol-Birds] agritoruism for Golden-winged Warblers only $5.00 per person - Wallace Coffey