Big Bald Banding Station 2019 and Fall 2019 State Meeting of the Tennessee Ornithological Society

I hadn’t been up to the bird banding station at Big Bald in a couple of years.

It is always a treat to watch Dr. Mark Hopey do his work and I envy the student volunteers that help him. Banding can make for some long days, too, but I suspect all who have helped still remember being at the station. He gets his students from Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, N.C. and from Haywood Community College in Clyde, N.C., about 25 miles west of Asheville. The students are very fortunate to get this close, hands-on training, and exceptional experience in the great outdoors. Up here in the hills, we take great pride that our kids are interested in nature and the woods and rivers. There’s never too much time spent on the balds, in the rapids, or exploring the wilderness.

We were visiting the station this time as part of the weekend hosting by the Herndon Chapter of TOS (also known as the Elizabethton Bird Club) of the society’s fall, state meeting. Over 65 people registered for the weekend and we had seven non-club members join on the trek out to the banding station. Of that group we’d all been to a banding station sometime in our lives.

The Big Bald station sits on the Appalachian Trail just a notch east of where the trail, I-26, and the N.C./Tennessee state line intersect. To get to the station, drive into North Carolina on I-26, double back through Wolf Laurel Community (gated), and then hike along the trail (northbound) with Tennessee to your left and North Carolina to your right. If the trail is accurate as a boundary the station sits on the Tennessee side but most of the spectators stand in North Carolina! Of course, the view is priceless, as it is on the balds at Carver’s Gap, even with the current hazy heat.

But for many people along the trail, as it is for the students, this is one of those rare moments. You’re lucky to see a bird within ten feet and here you get to see them from two feet. Makes a world of difference. And even if you have watched birds for some time seeing them up close is always a new perspective. Mark takes the time to explain what he is doing and to show us the fine points of avian anatomy.

This station has been in business 50 years. For more information try: https://bigbaldbanding.org/big-bald-banding-station/

It’s not all picnic. All the stuff needed: tables, chairs, tools, paper sacks, food, canopy, books, data sheets, have to be hauled up on someone’s back. It’s not the longest walk but it can be more than enough. The adventure is worth the work.
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Bay's Mountain Park, Kingsport, Tennessee

Bays Mountain city park, on the southwestern edge of Kingsport, is a great place to visit and spend some time. They have trails, a planetarium, nature center, captive animals, picnic area, gift shop, an observatory, and a small lake. The lake and dam were the city's water source many years ago and were privately purchased to form the park. It is as good a cross section of southern Appalachian flora and fauna as any in the mountains. It is the hiking that really makes Bays Mountain more than just a city park with a few animals to stare and gawk at.

We hiked the Lakeshore Trail, 2.3 miles, on a hot August afternoon. That was most of the reason we didn't add any new birds. But we did get visited by a Red admiral which feasted on the salt on our fingertips. It tickled! The proboscis is about 1-1 1/2" long and it just checks out every whirl and loop on your fingertip.

There are plenty of side trails (be cautious that the park is edged with private properties). Because there are many roads around the edge of the park bike riding would probably be a lot of fun with the hills and few cars to worry about. The signage was good and with the map we never were concerned about our location.

For Kingsporters, Bays Mountain would be probably a good place to get out of the heat of the bowl that is Kingsport. And into some fresh air.

Getting there is another matter. There's one route leading from Wilcox Road exit off I-26 and one from the Meadowview exit farther up the road from Wilcox. Check google maps for "bays mountain kingsport tenn" for directions.
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Spring Count, April 24, 2010

We have lived through what surely feels like the longest winter ever! Undoubtedly it wasn't but from Christmas through to April 15 seemed to creep through cold, dark, miserable days. Maybe it was because I'd decided to retire. Maybe it was because we don't usually get dreary winters. Maybe it was just age. For whatever reasons, I felt like Spring would never come. Spring means when the back yard dogwood, quince, and redbuds are all blooming at the same time. Here it is almost the last weekend in April and I've mowed once and the neighbors twice, at least. Is that more a sign of Spring? Robins come and go. Waxwings dash through. A warbler here a warbler there.

We are three inches shy in the rain gauge. Even last evening's storm that roared through Mississippi and northern Alabama won't make a dent. What we have so far is snow melt.

Instead of over night lows in the teens the overnight lows are in the low 40s. Soon, in mid-May, the overnight lows will be in the mid-50s and I can put out the orchids for the rest of the summer.

The Lee and Lois Herndon Chapter performed it's spring count on Saturday. This is a quarterly population census of the upper five counties. I was lucky enough to join Don Holt and Diane Draper, Kim Stroud and Joe McGinness surveying Unicoi county. There 37 club members out in the counties. We found 139 species which is not a record and is a little low, I'm told, but not bad. The concensus of the experts is the migrations aren't in full swing yet. Give it a week or two. Other observations by other outdoors folks suggests the same thing. This has been a peculiar spring.

My personal total is now at 70. Big deal? We had six members of our club last year count over 200 species, just in our area and cannot cross over the state in into North Carolina. If you'll locate Carter County Tennessee on google maps you'll see what we're up against and why 200 species is such an accomplishment.

The spring count is not the start of the "season." About mid-March when the weather is supposed to change we begin to see different birds moving in (or out. Buffleheads are gone now.) Some of the early flowers pop up. There is indeed that oft-spoken shaking aside of slumber by the world as it emerges from the cold of winter. The days are a tad longer. Going to work in the sun if just for a moment rather in the dark. You notice these things, don't you, and we respond just like the natural beings we are.

The naturalist rally at Roan Mountain is coming up next. Then a few trips to bird around the country. Then we settle in for a warm, over-white summer. The migration to Rankin Bottoms is already on the calendar. Summer seems to go by too quickly.