TN-Birders I first met Jeff Wilson on September 3, 1984 at Island 13. He was handing out trash bags to use as rain gear for birders looking for the Long-tailed Jaeger. Many saw the Jaeger that day, when the rain was more horizontal than vertical. Bad Weather=Good Birds. I birded with him many times over the years, but not as much I would have liked. I learned something from him every time. His many quotes, already mentioned by others, still ring in my ears, but one I have not yet seen mentioned, "A rare bird is not as rare as a good birder in the field". I miss him already. For those who have never seen Jeff, attached is a photo taken on one of my last outing with him. Clyde Blum Signal Mountain, TN (Near Chattanooga) Clyde Blum Signal Mountain, TN (Near Chattanooga) From: tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Wallace Coffey Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 4:49 PM To: TN-birds Subject: [TN-Bird] this list and Jeff Wilson TN Birders: Expressing your feelings about the passing of Jeff Wilson may be far more important than what you say. Many persons have a need to say whatever they feel when they have lost a good and respected friend. Ol' Coot will leave a big void in the lives of many of you and the birding scene will be greatly altered now that he will no longer be in the field. He was a great birder and a legend in his birding area of the Mid South. I say that for all of the persons who are seeing this flood of posts about Jeff Wilson and his life. You may have never heard of him and that would be almost impossible to some West Tennessee birders. So it is expected that many posts will come from those who spent much of their birding lives afield with him and from those who knew him in a very different way -- such as his giving a talk at your bird club or being at birding event he was at. Those who have been on TN-Birds, and even on Valley Birds in the 1990s, may have never seen him but you may be very aware of how he was widely recognized and appreciated for his eloquent and descriptive writings about bird migration and identification, as one of our subscribers posted earlier. While Jeff was not actively posting to TN-Birds in recent months, he was a charter subscribe to the historic Valley Bird list in 1995. It is perfectly fine to even express your sympathy to other TN-Birders on the list or off the list in regards to their loss and sorrow. You can see many of Jeff Wilson's wonderful birding finds and excellent bird photographs at: http://www.pbase.com/ol_coot/ He has 88 galleries and 2,787 images online. These pages have been viewed by a total of 1,024,226 visit to his site. With respect.... Wallace Coffey Moderator TN-Birds Net Tennessee Ornithological Society Bristol, TN _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.2899 / Virus Database: 2639/6100 - Release Date: 02/12/13
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