2008 Club Activities

The BCBC (Buchanan County Bird Club) celebrated its 7th year as an organization in December. The club had another good year with a membership that grew to 46 with some members being from Buchanan and surrounding counties while some are from Central Virginia, Tennessee, West Virginia and even one couple from Ohio. The number of subscribers to the club’s internet list serve grew to 70 during the year. Members who subscribe to the free listserve receive the messages in their e-mail that have been posted to the list serve concerning birds, feeding birds, bird photos, and photos and messages about other types of wildlife including deer, foxes, etc. Any interested persons, who would like to receive the messages about birds and other wildlife in their e-mails, can contact club president Roger Mayhorn at rogermayhorn@gmail.com to be added to the list.

In April of 2008 the first confirmed Raven nest in Buchanan County was found on a cliff above the Dismal River just upriver from the intersection of Rte 638 and Rte 635 at Whitewood. The nest was found by bird club members, Don Carrier of Bristol, Roger Mayhorn of Compton Mountain and David Raines of the Breaks. Three young Ravens were found in the nest. In mid-February of 2009 Josh Felch, a graduate student from the University of Kentucky, who is doing research on nesting Ravens, spent the day with Roger Mayhorn gathering data on the Raven nest. Ravens begin nesting in February each year.

Also in April an aggressive, territorial Ruffed Grouse on Guesses Fork at Hurley made several attacks on ATV’s as they passed its nesting area. It knocked the hat off one ATV driver.

BCBC member, Don Carrier, who is a professional computer programmer, updated the club’s database, which now contains over 13,000 entries of information about birds in the area.

In May of 2008 eight members of the BCBC made their annual trip to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in Northern Ohio on the edge of Lake Erie. They went there to watch and photograph the migration of thousands of songbirds as they stop to feed in the refuge before making the long flight northward across the lake.

On May 27th Ed Talbott II and his wife Mary found a Snowy Egret on the Levisa River at Big Rock. While this large, white, wading bird is common farther south, this was the first reported sighting for this species in the county.

During the nesting season last year, 5 BCBC members monitored the 74 Bluebird nest boxes the club has erected throughout the county and the Breaks Park in Dickenson County. The boxes were opened and examined weekly from the beginning of April through the end of August to check on the progress of the birds nesting in them. Opening the boxes does not greatly disturb the birds. They often remain on the nest while the box is opened. The birds laid 370 eggs during the season and 310 birds were successful in leaving the boxes. This was an improvement over the previous year when only 274 birds fledged from the boxes due to a late freeze and drought conditions. This information was then forwarded to the Virginia Bluebird Society, which collects information from all over the state in order to see how the Eastern Bluebird population is doing. David Raines monitors the bluebird trail in the Breaks community and the one in the Breaks Park. Joel and Josh Meade monitor the trail on Keen Mountain. Roger and Lynda Mayhorn monitor the trail on Compton Mountain. Because of House Sparrows and Starlings, both introduced species from Europe, Eastern Bluebirds have a difficult time finding cavities in which to nest. Their numbers had dropped drastically by the 1940’s. Since then, due to groups and individuals who put up nesting boxes for them, they have made a come-back.

In August club members Dan Kendrick, David Raines and Roger Mayhorn joined 5 other birders for a two week trip west to Arizona and Texas to participate in The Southwest Wings Birding Festival that takes place each year in Southern Arizona. After enjoying the festival and finding many species of birds the group birded its way homeward through South Texas and several coastal states. The birders identified 232 different bird species on the trip.

On the second Saturday in September Roger and Lynda Mayhorn hosted their annual “Warbler Day” at their home on Compton Mountain. The Mayhorn home is located on the route of many beautiful, fall migrating warblers and other songbirds. Each year birders from all over Virginia, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky and sometimes Ohio come to the Mayhorn home to watch this mass migration pass through their yard. Fifty different species were identified in and around their yard on Warbler Day. The event has become so popular that those attending now have to make reservations in order to keep the event an enjoyable one for both the birders and the birds. Photos of this and other bird club events can be found at these web sites, Roger Mayhorn’s at http://pbase.com/mayhorn and Ed Talbott II’s at http://www.pbase.com/aquilaet/bcbc

In October during migration David Raines and his father, Ernest, were hiking in the Breaks Park and saw an adult Peregrine Falcon fly by. Even though young Peregrines have been released in the park recently, this is the first reported sighting of an adult in the park since they were destroyed all along the Eastern United States by the pesticide DDT back in the early 1960’s. The last pair in the state nested on the Towers, the tall cliffs that can be seen across the river from the lodge restaurant in the Breaks Park.

October is the month when sparrows migrate through the area. On October 25th David and Susan Raines graciously hosted a “Sparrow Day” at their home in the Breaks, which is known for its varied species of sparrows. Nineteen birders attended from Virginia and Tennessee. Forty-seven species were found during the day.

Ed Talbott III and his wife Michelle hosted their annual “Sparrow Day” for the bird club on November 1 at Guesses Fork on Michelle’s parents’ property. Thirty-eight species were found and the club enjoyed its usual wiener roast.

In November BCBC members participated in the Thanksgiving Window Watch Count. For this annual event birders keep a record of the bird species showing up their feeders for an hour or so. The data is then e-mailed to Thelma Dalmas of Lynchburg, VA, who is in charge of the count.

Birders from all over Virginia and several surrounding states came to Buchanan County in December of 2008 and January of 2009 to see a very unusual shorebird, a Long-billed Curlew. The bird appeared in the Breaks area of Buchanan County on December 21, 2008.

On Wednesday, December 24, Buchanan County Bird Club member, David Raines received a call from his neighbor, Ed Bailey. A few days earlier Bailey had found a rather large bird with an extremely long bill feeding in his field. When Raines went to investigate he was surprised to find that the bird was a juvenile Long-billed Curlew.

The Long-billed Curlew is the largest of the shorebirds, measuring anywhere from 20 to 26 inches long depending on the length of the bill, which can measure from 4 to 8 inches long. Juvenile birds have shorter bills than do adults. With wings extended the Long-billed curlew has a wingspan of 35 inches. This species was once a common nester in the grassland prairies and fields in the mid-west, but due to extensive hunting during the 1800s and the changing of its habitat from fields to farmland in the early 1900s, its numbers have greatly been reduced. The curlew is now one of the most threatened shorebirds on the continent. According to Virginia’s records of unusual bird species this is the first bird of its kind to be found anywhere in the mountains and valleys section of Virginia. It, being a juvenile, probably got confused during migration and headed the wrong way. It normally spends its winters along the coasts of Texas and southern California.

As soon as Raines realized how unusual the bird was, he contacted fellow bird club members. Ed Talbott took video of the bird and Roger Mayhorn took many still photographs to document the unusual event.

When the video and photos were posted to the Buchanan County Bird Club listserve and to VA-Birds, an internet listserve for Virginia birders, emails began pouring in from many birders in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Tennessee requesting permission and directions to come to see this unusual visitor.

Birders came from as far away as Pittsburgh, PA to see this strange bird. The bird stayed in the same area until January 21, exactly one month. The last few days the bird was there the weather changed to freezing cold and snow.

The bird probably migrated to a warmer area where it could probe the ground for insects and earthworms. Video of the Curlew can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSRuMru5hrY&feature=channel_page

Photos of the bird can be found at http://www.pbase.com/mayhorn/lb_curlew

This past year on December 20th the Buchanan County Bird Club completed its first Christmas Bird Count. The CBC (Christmas Bird Count) is a count that has been ongoing for 109 years. It is a winter count of bird species sponsored by the National Audubon Society to monitor the health of bird populations. Each December birders all over North and South America search for as many bird species as they can find in a 24 hour period within a 15 mile diameter circle. Each circle has to be approved by the National Audubon Society before it becomes part of the count. One circle can not overlap another. Members of the Buchanan County Bird Club have participated for several years in the Breaks Christmas Bird Count. The diameter of that circle extends from Elkhorn City, Kentucky to downtown Grundy. The bird club’s new Buchanan County count circle starts at the coke ovens at the mouth of Dismal and extends eastward to Jewel Valley. It extends north to include a part of McDowell County WV and south to take in a part of Russell County. Fifty-six bird species were found within the circle. The twelve participants, who searched their allotted sections of the circle were Don Carrier of Bristol, TN, Tom Hunter of Lebanon, Roger and Lynda Mayhorn of Compton Mountain, David Raines of the Breaks, Bob Riggs of Lebanon, Ed Talbott II and Mary Talbott of Big Rock, Ed Talbott III and Michelle Talbott of Weller Yard and Jerry and Jane Thornhill of Lebanon.

Members of the BCBC were joined on February 14 by the Russell County Bird Club for the annual trip to search for Golden Eagles in Burkes Garden, the highest valley in Virginia at 3,200 feet. The birders were not disappointed with 11 sightings of Golden Eagles and one Bald Eagle. Golden Eagles have wintered in the Garden for many years. One Golden Eagle circled directly overhead and the group got to see it up close.

The bird club is making preparations to participate in the Coalfield Folklife Festival that is to be held in the county on June 5, 6 and 7. The Buchanan County Bird Club will lead bird walks for anyone interested on Saturday the 6th and Sunday the 7th.

Roger Mayhorn