[TN-Bird] Knoxville Chapter of TOS featured in today's News Sentinel
- From: viclcsw@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2013 10:49:38 -0400 (EDT)
Article on KTOS president Billie Cantwell and the Knoxville Chapter of TOS in
today's paper.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/apr/06/club-connection-birders-of-a-feather-enjoy/
Vickie Henderson
Knoxville, TN
Club connection: Birders of afeather enjoy flocking together
By T. Wayne Waters Special tothe News Sentinel
Posted April 6, 2013 at 2:32 p.m
PHOTO BY WAYNE WATERS
wayne waters/ special to the news sentinel Birding makes these ladies, and
those people behind them at a recent meeting of the Knoxville Chapter of the
Tennessee Ornithological Society, very happy. From left are Carole Gobert,
treasurer; Melinda Fawver, secretary; Billie Cantwell, president; Patty Ford,
vice president.
If you know a bluebird from a blue jay by the sound of their songs, there’s a
good chance you’d enjoy the Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological
Society. If you don’t but you’d like to, same thing goes. In fact, if you
appreciate our fine, feathered friends even without knowing much about them,
you still would enjoy this group of bird enthusiasts.
KTOS meetings include about a quarter- to half-hour of socializing, usually
followed by a bird-call identifying session with Cantwell using her iPad and a
program called iBird Pro that offers recorded songs of a great variety of avian
songsters. A short business meeting follows, then a sharing of bird sightings
by members, and finally a guest speaker.
KTOS President Billie Cantwell indicates that the club has approximately 130
members, more women than men, but that men are in no shortage. The average age,
she says, is probably 40s but with a good mix, including some quite young.
Cantwell grew up on farm in Grainger County and developed an early love for
birds, particularly bluebirds. Like many, though, her fascination with birds
lapsed as she became an adult until gradually she found herself feeding
hummingbirds and getting more involved in bird watching again.
“When you see the colors flash by you in the sky,” says Cantwell, “and you say,
‘Wow! What was that?’ And you start paying attention and you really notice how
many different kinds of birds there are. That’s when you start looking more and
more.”
Cantwell describes with obvious pleasure the experience of noticing a wintering
hummingbird on her and husband Colin Leonard’s property in January 2012 which
then returned this past winter. It’s rare for one of these colorful
wing-beaters to winter this far north. Cantwell knows it’s the same one because
she and a fellow birder gently captured the hummingbird just long enough to
band it.
KTOS Club members get together three or four times a month, according to
Cantwell, for field trips, mostly on Saturdays but sometimes Thursday or
Sunday. These are open not just to club members but to anyone who wants to join
in. Cantwell says April’s field trips will include three Thursday bird walks on
Sharp’s Ridge, watching for birds headed back north as the weather warms.
Some KTOS members volunteer time to a program they developed called Discover
Birds, designed to heighten the awareness of birds in young schoolchildren. The
presentation is multifaceted and includes a walk on school grounds to look for
birds and signs of bird activity, as well as handing out the impressive
“Discover Birds Activity Book” with illustrations by KTOS member Vickie
Henderson and cover art by KTOS treasurer Melinda Fawver.
“The club is a great opportunity to meet other people with the same interests
and to learn more about birds and get out and have fun,” sums up Cantwell.
KTOS dues are $13 for students, $26 for individual adult memberships and $30
for family memberships. Membership includes the club’s “through the
BiKNOXulars” newsletter and the tri-annual “Tennessee Warbler” newsletter, as
well as “The Migrant” quarterly journal, the latter two by virtue of Tennessee
Ornithological Society membership that comes with KTOS membership. KTOS has a
Facebook page and an online list-serv group on Yahoo!
Wayne Waters may be reached at wwwordsmith@xxxxxxxxx. Club Connection is a
monthly feature of the Knoxville News Sentinel’s Life section designed to
profile enthusiasts’ clubs rather than support groups or clubs primarily
devoted to professional development or political activism.
© 2013, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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© 2013 Knoxville News Sentinel. All rights reserved. This material may not be
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