Simply amazing! I cant even fathom the amount of time and dedication yall have
spent on this endeavor.
Kudos!!
Michael ToddJackson, TN
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-------- Original message --------From: Ron Hoff <aves7000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date:
4/29/17 9:05 PM (GMT-06:00) To: TN-bird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject:
[TN-Bird] Tennessee County Birding
TN-birders,
A lovely Cedar Waxwing in Hickman County this morning
culminated a years-long fun birding project that Dollyann and I have been
working on. We have now recorded 100 species in every one of Tennessee’s 95
counties. I’m not even sure why we started this endeavor, but I can tell you
that it has been a ton of fun! We have travelled so many back roads in this
gorgeous state and seen so many wonderful sights that the birding was almost
(almost) secondary.
It’s been a fantastic way to see the state and visit places
that wouldn’t have ordinarily showed up on our radar. It has also taught us so
much more about our birds, from tiny sounds they make to habitat requirements
necessary for their survival. Then there were always the surprises. Like Forest
Gump said, “you never know what you're going to get”. For instance, last
spring, just before the TOS state meeting, we were birding in Wayne County in
SW
TN. We had been looking for migrating warblers and commented that we still
hadn’t seen any Palm Warblers. The very next day we must have had 70 of them!
They literally came in over night. They were in 4’s and 5’s everywhere. Also
last spring we were out late listening for nightjars when we heard a Barn Owl.
In 40 years of birding that was only the 2nd time I have ever heard that. The
other time was in Knox County with Susan Hoyle.
We rarely went to a county and completely dipped on birds we
were looking for. We also found our fair share of interesting places to eat
(both plus and minus) and places to stay (again both plus and minus). Of course
spring was always the highlight, but we found that many counties which lacked
much water in the form of lakes or ponds, needed to be visited in several
seasons to get to 100 species.
In this day and age of eBird, we would encourage folks to make
sure they record birds that they find using the breeding and behavior codes,
like “FL” for birds that have fledglings and “NE” for a nest with eggs, etc.
These codes can be found on the eBird site under “breeding codes and behavior
codes”. Data entered with these codes added can make the data far more useful
in
the future.
Great birding to all and thanks to many folks who have helped
us over the past several years to find many special birds. Now for 150 in each
county.....
Ron Hoff & Dollyann Myers
Clinton, TN
