[Bristol-Birds] midnight birding with Don Holt's night vision binoculars

  • From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:50:23 -0400

A memory from seven or eight years ago, that we still
make jokes about, involves Don Holt and night vision
equipment on the Shady Valley Christmas Bird Count.

Back then, a group of us would gather the night before
the Shady and the Glade Spring counts in mountain
cabins or a guest house to have an evening of fellowship
before the Christmas Bird Count began at midnight.

For years, we stayed at cabins on the Virginia Creeper
Trail in Damascus before the Glade Spring count.  We
were the guest of Tom Horsch.  We'd bring pizzas and
slide projectors and take turns with one of us presenting
a program on some special aspect of birds -- example:
Andy Jones showing slides from his Russian summer of
bird collecting.

Horsch would take us to his outdoor store
and hold a midnight madness sale for us with anything
discounted 40% or more off.  There was backpacking, 
camping and outdoor gear, sleeping bags and trail running 
shoes, hiking boots, tents, clothing, and tent shelters,
daypacks, titanium cookware as well as a full line of 
mountain bikes and biking accessories.   One night, 
a birder bought a bicycle.  I still wear my wonderful 
winter gloves to bird.  

The next day, we would load in his 10 or 12 passenger 
van and bird all day in our adjacent area on the Christmas 
count.

The particular year of humor (not so funny then) was
when Chris O'Bryan, who was always in the crowd
wherever we were doing one of these counts, decided
to host us for an overnight get-together at his family's
mountain guest house in Shady Valley.  He was then
an amazing teenager who was just one of the guys
and a tough, focused and durable birder beyond his
years in maturity.  He didn't tag along.  His contributions
were serious and sincere.

The best I can remember, that night included Andy Jones,
Don Holt, Chris O'Bryan and Rack Cross.  I especially
remember Rack because we rode together to Shady
across Holston Mountain.  Along US 421 at 2,800 ft.
near Dogwood Bench, going up Holston Mountain, we
came upon two Bobcats leisurely walking in the middle
of the highway.  I stopped my car and we both got our
binoculars on them and carefully watched them in the
car headlights until they decided to walk away over the
bank into the woods.  A lifetime memory of wildlife
watching.

After dinner and showing slides and everyone getting
their sleeping bags and equipment loaded in,  we 
planned to go owling at midnight as the Shady Valley
Christmas Bird Count began that year.

Loaded door-to-door, we drove up into Shady Valley
and began to "look" for owls in a howling wind and
using Don Holt's night vision equipment -- a special
pair of night vision binoculars.  It was a system that
converted whatever little light was out there into a
sort of electrical image like looking at a green TV
screen inside the binoculars.

Of course, like any teenager, Chris O'Bryan could
not get enough of Holt's new high-tech birding gear.
He was sitting up front and captivated with scanning
the fields, trees, barns and whatever for owls.

Amazingly, white-tailed deer were absolutely everywhere.
Seemed like we saw more deer in the valley than cattle. 
It was spectacular.  

Wherever we looked thru the night-vision binoculars,
there were dozens standing around barns, in people's
yards, all along the fields and just about anywhere we
looked.  I suspect we saw a hundred.  Maybe that 
number is with a little embellished memory.

After Chris had been looking thru the binoculars and
ooohing and aaawhing for maybe five or 10 minutes,
he took the binoculars from his face and decided to
pass the equipment to someone else.

IT WAS THEN THAT CHRIS DISCOVERED HE HAD
GONE BLIND !!  YES, BLIND!!

The only thing Chris could see was the color purple
and he could not see any other details of anything.
He could not see me sitting beside him in the front
seat.  He could not see any images out the front
window.  He could not see his hand in front of his
face !!!!

HE COULD ONLY SEE PURPLE AND NOTHING
ELSE  :-(

You talk about panic setting in.  We were horrified.
And we were all deeply concerned, if not really
scared, but still trying to stay calm.  

We kept asking Chris if he could see anything at
all and he was only seeing the color purple.  For
the next five minutes or so, we began to try and
think about how we might take him to get help.

Well, those of you who know Chris know he did
not go blind.  But he did for the five minutes or
so after he took the night vision equipment away
from his eyes.

Very scary !!  Shortly, Chris began to see some images
and the purple color slowly began to fade away
and the night and lights came back into focus with
contrast, etc., etc., etc.

We were greatly relieved.  Glad Chris was not
permanently scared for life.  Glad he would not
have to live his life as a blind man who lost all
his eyesight or even was made color blind because
he looked at birds.

We had never known anyone who went blind from
birdwatching.  We had a birder once who thought
his eyesight was going bad and went to see an
attractive, female, ophthalmologist for an office
appointment.  Told her he couldn't see birds very
well, blah, blah, blah.  She told him there was 
nothing wrong with his eyesight.....he "just couldn't
identify birds."  She married him and cured that
problem.  At least that was his version of all that.

Well, I have known some folks who I thought were
blind by the birds they thought they had seen but
maybe we'll leave those stories for sometime when
it is not 3:30 a.m. and I am typing just to hear my
keystrokes click -- is this insomnia ?

Who wants to go looking for Great Blue Herons
at midnight with Don Holt's night vision equipment ?

Raise your hand and let's go heron hunting . . . .



Wallace Coffey

 



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