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Strange Christmas Visitor to Buchanan County
Birders from all over Virginia and several surrounding states came to Buchanan County during the last of December 2008 and the first part of January 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 farmer neighbor, Ed Bailey. A few days earlier Bailey had found a rather large bird with an extremely long bill feeding in his field. When Mr. Raines went to investigate he was surprised to find that the bird was a Long-billed Curlew. He made the identification based on the long, bi-colored and de-curved bill, the darker crown coloring, the cinnamon underwings and the two note call of the bird as it flew.
As soon as Mr. Raines realized how unusual the bird was, he contacted Roger and Lynda Mayhorn, and Ed & Michelle Talbott, all fellow bird club members. Ed Talbott took video of the bird - can be seen at https://youtu.be/iSRuMru5hrY [See video] and Roger Mayhorn took many still photographs to document the unusual event. ( http://www.pbase.com/mayhorn/lb_curlew ) Soon other bird club members were coming to view this rare spectacle.
When the video and photos were posted to the Buchanan County Bird Club listserve and to VA-Birds, e-mails 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. With generous permission given by Ed Bailey and his neighbor, David Looney, numerous birders came to marvel at, to scope and to photograph this unlikely avian guest. Cars along the highway on Happy Hollow were often seen slowing as the drivers tried to figure out why groups of people were gathered in Mr. Bailey’s long driveway or at the edge of the field with binoculars, spotting scopes and cameras on tripods. Often David Raines and Roger Mayhorn were there to meet the visiting birders to answer their questions or just to enjoy conversation with fellow birders about this strange and interesting oddity.
The many birders watched as the curlew moved about the field, probing the earth with its long bill in search of insects and earthworms. The bird was observed eating both crickets and earthworms. Occasionally the bird would be spooked into the air by a circling hawk, where it too would circle until the hawk moved on, then would glide back into the field, all the while giving its loud two-note call.
The bird was last observed on January 21, a month to the day after its arrival. The weather turned very cold in mid-January with freezing temperatures and snow. The last three days the bird was there it remained huddled in one corner of the field, possibly trying to conserve energy and body heat.
Roger Mayhorn
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