[TN-Bird] Re: Tennessee life bird lists
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "'bristol-birds'" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2014 13:06:52 -0500
And to Jim Campbell:
The ability to instantly post records from the field directly to lists and
eBird has made an exciting new tool as has the ability to exchange digital
photos while standing with a good bird - as well as digital field guides
that new birders use afield rather than carrying books. I carry my cell
phone in my shirt pocket and I am almost never without my digital pocket
camera which is usually in my pants pocket. I think the construction of
interstate highways has also contributed. You can chase a good bird almost
anywhere in the state in hours. I remember going to Nashville for a TOS
State Meeting (50th Anniversary of TOS) about 1965 and I don't remember
traveling a single mile over interstates because I doubt there were any.
Since we had to pay "long distance" telephone rates for every call (and it
was expensive) we mostly communicated by U.S. Mail. I remember that to
contact each other about going birding on a Saturday, we use to send post
cards between Bristol, Johnson City, Kingsport and Elizabethton. I still
have some of those post cards. It had only been a few short years before
when the road to the top of Roan Mountain was one way and not paved and
birders and traffic went up the mountain in the morning and were allowed to
come down in the afternoon. When I started going to Roan Mountain to bird,
we traveled from Elizabethton to the village of Roan Mountain over a very
narrow and dangerous road. You had to get over to let oncoming traffic get
past and the bridges over the creek were single lane and you had to take
turns to get past other cars. For that matter, I remember the main drag in
Gatlinburg being a gravel street. Albert Ganier traveled by train from
Nashville to the Great Smoky Mountains and to Johnson City to get to Unaka,
Roan Mountain and Shady Valley. They didn't even have electric lights or
paved roads in Shady Valley (Johnson County) and any birding work they did
after dark was by lanterns. And before any of you start forwarding this
message to Danny Shelton of Franklin, as possible material for his wonderful
video tape presentation of the history and memories of TOS for the big 100th
Anniversary of TOS meeting coming up next year, he came to Bristol in the
middle of January and spent two days collecting historical info, tape
recordings and doing all-day video interviews with me. It was great fun and
very rewarding. His work on that is a tremendous effort. I can't wait to
see that presentation which will probably include dozens of TOSers who will
have a lot to share.
Wallace Coffey, Bristol Bird Club
Bristol, TN in Sullivan County
From: tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of James Campbell
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 9:20 PM
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [TN-Bird] Tennessee life bird lists
I remember back in the late 1960s Fred Alsop, Benton Basham, Paul Pardue,
J.B. Owen and I were trying to see which of us could see the most life
species of birds in Tennessee. We were all at about 270 and wondered if
anyone would ever get to 300. I thought we all would because there would be
more and more birders per se as well as more good and great ones. I also
expected communication between birders would get better. None of us even
dreamed of the exponential increase in contact between birders due to the
advent of cell phones and the internet nor did we foresee anything leading
to the tremendous totals above 350 now achieved. Another thing had to happen
to get to these numbers and that was the desire among many birders to make
the efforts and sacrifices to do so. I think The American Birding
Association ( in its infancy in the 1960s) and tn-bird have had great
influences in fueling this desire.
Jim Campbell KTOS
Oak Ridge, TN Anderson County
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