Tag Archives: Bristol Bird Club

Join a bird club to gain birding experience

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Photo Courtesy of Michele Sparks • Joining a bird club is a great way of gaining expertise in birding by meeting like-minded people of various experience levels.

Where does a beginning birder look for help getting started in the engaging pastime of birding?

In my own case, I turned to local birding organizations in Elizabethton and Bristol in Northeast Tennessee. 

Today, those two organizations that helped nurture my interest in birding are known as the Lee & Lois Herndon Chapter of Tennessee Ornithological Society, also known as Elizabethton Bird Club, and the J. Wallace Coffey Chapter of TOS, also known as the Bristol Bird Club.

I didn’t know the namesakes for the Elizabethton club, but I knew J. Wallace Coffey from the late 1990s until his death in 2016. Coffey and many other individuals helped guide and polish my birding skills with helpful advice, suggestions and, above all else, friendship. Any novice birder needs to extend some feelers to local birding groups. No online resources, smart phone apps or printed field guides can match the reservoir of experience that veteran birders have to offer.

Today the Bristol Bird Club is headed by President Larry McDaniel. 

He echoed my advice to new birders.

Photo Courtesy of Michele Sparks • George Larkins, Larry McDaniel and Teresa Hutson watch for hawks from atop Mendota Mountain in Southwest Virginia.

“Becoming a part of a local bird club such as the Bristol Bird Club is a great way for new and beginning birders to be around experienced birders who love to help you learn about birding,” McDaniel said. 

“You can quickly learn where to find birds in the area, how to know the birds you see in your own yard and many ways of learning how to identify different species,” he added. 

McDaniel noted that joining a birding group is also a great way to meet new friends who share a common interest. 

“We offer many outings where you will get to be in the field with other birders,” he said. “All of our outings are suitable for all levels including kids.”

McDaniel noted that many of those outing will focus on some of the region’s birding hot spots.

“Some of our favorite places to bird include South Holston Lake, Osceola Island (Recreation Area) below South Holston Dam, Paddle Creek Pond, Steele Creek Park, Holston Mountain, Shady Valley, Jacob’s Nature Park in Johnson City, Roan Mountain, Whitetop Mountain and Burke’s Garden,” he said. “There are many other spots that we like to frequent.”

Later this fall, a seasonally popular spot will come into play.

“Another favorite destination is the Mendota Hawk Watch where Ron Harrington and others have been conducting hawk counts in September for many years,” McDaniel said. “There are days when we can observe thousands of broad-winged hawks fly over as they make their way south.”

In addition, the Mendota Hawk Watch is a great way to look for other migrating raptors, including ospreys, bald eagles and occasionally golden eagles. 

“The club has a master bird bander,” McDaniel added. “Richard Lewis bands birds at his property and does an annual public demonstration during Wildlife Weekend at Steele Creek Park.”

Photo Courtesy of Michele Sparks • Birding clubs organize bird walks to various locations known for producing good birding opportunities.

McDaniel also shared some of the club’s rich history.

“The Bristol Bird Club has a long history,” he noted. “The club has been active since 1950. We are the J. Wallace Coffey chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society and an affiliate club of the Virginia Society of Ornithology. 

“Wallace was a major force in leading the club for over 50 years,” McDaniel added. “When he passed away a few years ago, members decided to rename the club in his honor.”

McDaniel said that the club has also worked with local landowners over the years to establish some of the most important birding hotspots in the area. 

“We also sponsor several Christmas Bird Counts,” he said.

McDaniel said that the club meets at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month in the Expedition Room of The Summit Building located at 1227 Volunteer Parkway in Bristol, Tennessee. 

“The meetings can also be joined on Zoom,” McDaniel said. “Zoom meeting invitations are sent to the BBC email group and posted on our Facebook group. To join the email group, send a request to BristolBirdClub2022@gmail.com. You can also find us and join our Facebook group to get more information and current news about the club. We also sponsor an email list serve called Bristol-Birds that you may join to receive information on recent sightings.”

He pointed out that the club does not have regular meetings during the months when the group hosts a club picnic and yearly banquet. 

“These dates are announced well ahead of time,” he said. 

“There is no regular meeting in December, but we do usually have a BBC Christmas party some time in December.”

The club will also participate in the 25th anniversary of the annual Wildlife Weekend at Steele Creek Park on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 7-8.  

McDaniel will lead a walk starting at 9 a.m. on Oct. 8 to the bird banding station operated by banders Richard Lewis and Rack Cross. “Plants and Pollinators” will provide the theme for this year’s Wildlife Weekend. Guest speaker for the Oct. 7 evening program will be Gerardo Arceo-Gomez, an associate professor in the biology department at East Tennessee State University.

Members of the Bristol Bird Club are also automatically members of the Tennessee Ornithological Society. 

“Membership with the Virginia Society of Ornithology requires individuals to join VOS on their own,” he noted.

Current BBC membership rates, including TOS membership, are family, $32; individual, $28; and student (K-12), $15. 

To make a comment, share a sighting or ask a question, email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

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Bryan Stevens has been writing weekly about birds since November of 1995.

Photo Courtesy of Michele Sparks • Getting to know other birds can be a rewarding experience on many levels.

Region’s biggest woodpecker is surprisingly shy

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • A Pileated Woodpecker pays a visit to a walnut tree.

I heard the raucous antics of the large woodpecker before I saw it. A large Pileated Woodpecker had landed in the upper branches of a wild cherry tree near the creek that runs past my home. From spring to summer, the leaves of the tree provide green shelter for a variety of songbirds. During the winter, the tree is a stark outline against the winter sky and offers no concealment — not that a bird as large as a Pileated Woodpecker — it’s the size of a crow — would find it easy to hide itself.

One thing’s certain. A sighting of a Pileated Woodpecker never fails to impress. This bird has a loud, raucous cackling call, which is often heard before the bird is observed. This woodpecker spends a good amount of its time low to the ground, so when one takes flight unexpectedly, often calling loudly as its powerful wing beats carry it away from an observer, the moment can be somewhat startling. These experiences of sudden and unexpected sightings of one of these woodpeckers is often accompanied by exclamations of surprise. Hence common names such as “wood-hen” and “Lord God Bird” have been adopted for these woodpeckers. Other names for the pileated have included carpenter bird, cock-of-the-woods and wood-hen.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A Pileated Woodpecker pokes its head into a cavity excavated into a dying tree.

At one point, the Pileated Woodpecker was relegated to second place when it came to the size of native woodpeckers. The often inaccessible swampy woodlands and river bottoms of the American south were home to the former title holder, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. With the unsettled status of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker — is it extinct or is it still lingering in an Arkansas swamp? — the Pileated Woodpecker is considered the largest woodpecker in the United States. If incontrovertible evidence of the existence of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers should emerge in the future, the Pileated Woodpecker would once again find itself overshadowed by this dramatically larger relative.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A male Pileated Woodpecker climbs the trunk of a walnut tree.

Although the Pileated Woodpecker can reach a length of 19 inches, the bird weighs only about 11 ounces. Male and female look similar with a black and white body and a bright red crest on the head. In fact, the term “pileated” in the species’ name comes from from the Latin “pileatus,” meaning “capped.” Males show a red stripe — or mustache — on the cheek that is not present in females.

As mentioned earlier, the Pileated Woodpecker often can be found low to the ground, foraging on tree stumps and fallen logs, as well as in taller, living trees. The reason for this behavior rests with one of its favorite foods — the humble carpenter ant. The pileated is not the only woodpecker that supplements its diet with ants. For instance, the Northern Flicker is also fond of dining on these insects. Studies conducted on the dietary preferences of Pileated Woodpeckers have revealed that as much as 40 percent of the diet is made up of ants. Some pileated woodpeckers appear to have developed quite an addiction for ants with some individuals dining almost exclusively on ants. These woodpeckers also eat wild fruits and nuts, as well as other insects and their larvae. The Pileated Woodpecker will occasionally visit a feeder for suet or seeds, but I’ve not had much luck overcoming their instinctive wariness.

Pileated Woodpeckers — usually a mated pair — have been among my wild neighbors for years, but they are shy, retiring birds. Despite their bold appearance and capacity for making quite a racket, the Pileated Woodpecker usually otherwise goes out of its way not to attract attention to itself. Because of this, close-up observations of the largest of our woodpeckers are experiences to savor.

The bird’s enthusiastic ability to excavate cavities in rotten trees is a boon to other species of birds. Certain species of ducks as well as owls, bats, squirrels and other species of wildlife will often make use of cavities created by Pileated Woodpeckers for roosting locations or to raise their own young.

Worldwide, there are about 180 different woodpeckers, but the family is conspicuous in its absence from Australia, Madagascar and New Zealand. The Pileated Woodpecker ranges across the North American continent, with birds present in the forests across Canada and the eastern United States as well as certain areas along the Pacific coast.

Many of the world’s other woodpeckers have quite interesting common names, including Melancholy Woodpecker, Powerful Woodpecker, Speckle-breasted Woodpecker, Yellow-crowned Woodpecker, Crimson-bellied Woodpecker, White-naped Woodpecker, Crimson-backed Flameback and Pale-headed Woodpecker.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A Pileated Woodpecker hitches its way along the trunk of a Live Oak laden with Spanish moss.

Some gifts ideas are truly ‘for the birds’

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Photo by PilotBrent/Pixabay.com • A blue jay visits a feeder stocked with seed. A feeder provides a great method for drawing birds to our yards and gardens, which enhances observation of these feathered creatures.

With the days on the calendar counting down to Christmas, I thought this might be a good opportunity to make a list of gift suggestions for the birding enthusiasts on your shopping list. Keeping in mind that some budgets are a bit tight, I’ve kept these suggestions to gift ideas that can be purchased for about $20.

Bird feeders
One of the best ways to bring birds closer is to put up a feeder. For that reason, a Christmas present of a bird feeder will never be remiss. Whether shopping online or in garden centers or department stores, there’s no shortage of feeders for purchase. Bird feeding brings hours of entertainment to human hosts for only the cost of a sack of sunflower seed.
The most successful feeder that I’ve used in recent years is a type of hanging tray manufactured by such brands as Woodlink and PerkyPet and available on Amazon.com and other retail outlets for about $20. The one at my home is made from recycled plastic. Cardinals, sparrows, finches, and even the shy Eastern towhees love this open-air feeder. The mesh bottom of the feeder allows for good drainage.
There are so many designs, from extremely practical to awesomely whimsical, that choosing a feeder as a gift isn’t at all difficult. The birds and that friend on your list will thank you for the gift of a feeder. If you’re feeling in the giving spirit, throw in a bag of black oil sunflower seed to help get the recipient’s feeder off to a great start.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • Field guides are an essential tool for bird identification.

ID assistance
A field guide to birds is an indispensable tool for both the curious backyard birdwatcher and the more adventuresome birder expanding his or her viewing opportunities farther afield. Once you’ve taken the path to start identifying birds beyond your own yard and garden, a reliable field guide is indispensable.
I prefer field guides illustrated with paintings rather than photographs, but I have a varied collection of guides. I started a long time ago with the Golden Guide to Birds. It’s a classic and still a great guide to help interest children in the birds around them.
Some of the guides I recommend and use myself these days are National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, and Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America. Any of these field guides should be easily found online or in stores at a cost of around $20.

365 days of birds
The Lee and Lois Herndon Chapter of Tennessee Ornithological Society (Elizabethton Bird Club) produces a calendar as part of a long-standing holiday fund-raising effort. The 2020 calendar features a stunning photograph of a male scarlet tanager. The inside pages feature dozens more full-color photographs and an informative and educational grid. These calendars sell for $15 plus $2 for shipping. All sales help the club fund birding programs, public park feeders, conservation efforts and other activities in upper Northeast Tennessee. To obtain a calendar, email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • This year’s calendar produced by the Elizabethton Bird Club features a male scarlet tanager on the cover.

Flocking Together

Gift someone with a membership in a local birding organization. Bristol is home to the venerable Bristol Bird Club, which offers dual membership in the Virginia and Tennessee Ornithological Societies. The memberships of clubs are comprised of friendly, helpful individuals. Newcomers are taken under the wings and soon shown many helpful birding tips and introduced to some of the area’s birding hot spots. Single membership annual dues are $25 and family memberships are $32. To gain information about the BBC, email Treasurer Brenda Richards at richardsb16@gmail.com or write to her at: Brenda Richards, 160 Milden Hall Rd., Blountville, TN 37617.
In addition to the Bristol Bird Club, other clubs in the region include Birding Kingsport and the Elizabethton Bird Club. Other clubs in Southwest Virginia include the Buchanan County Bird Club and Russell County Bird Club. For more information on these clubs, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/725795874231666.
Membership in any of these clubs will pay real dividends that help people make social contacts and enhance their birding skills with the help of experienced birders.
With this list of suggested gifts, happy shopping. I hope everyone’s seeing some good birds.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A male wood duck swims with a pair of mallards.