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