BBC Snippets

Link: http://www.freelists.org/archives/bristol-birds/01-2008/msg00088.html

Feb 28-29, 1992 the Bristol Bird Club had 40 members travel to the Sandhill Crane Weekend for an overnight weekend field trip to the Hiawassee Wildlife Refuge near Cleveland, TN.

Our travel party occupied every room on the second floor of a Cleveland motel. A written survey of attendees had each person to itemize their expenses. The results showed we spent $3,040 for an average of $76 per person.

In addition, we had arranged a behind the scene tour of the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. Aquarium aviculturist Kevin Calhoon met BBC members at a side door and took us through a private entrance into the administrative areas, refrigeration storage rooms, preparation labs and the top floor aviary overlooking the downtown area. After an hour of walking through and learning about how the aquarium is managed, members entered the public exhibit area at the top level and walked down the many long ramps to see the displays and fish as the public normally sees them.

Thousands of Sandhill Cranes thrilled birders and the public came in droves to the Hiawassee WMA. We birded all day and everyone had a wonderful time. We birded at several other good spots in the area. Birds were everywhere and the waterfowl abundant.

The weekend was not without its challenging and sometimes humorous moments.

On the trip down, Wallace Coffey experienced a tire blowout on his car not far from the Jefferson City exit. The car had a new set of tires with less than 150 miles on the blown out tire. It took almost three hours searching to find a size replacement. Finally, not far from Pigeon Forge, a tire store had what was needed. The tire was taken back to the car stranded on the interstate. Other birders left behind to wait had started making a list of birds at that mile point on I-40.

Bert Hale drove is new car. He was talking with a group of birders in his room when one noticed a key chain with a new-fangled button pushing job that unlocks a car by remote. In the wee hours of the morning, police came to Bert Hale's room and knocked on the door. They had found his car unlocked in the parking lot with the trunk lid open. They wanted him to come and check on his camera, binoculars, spotting scope and such to make sure nothing was missing. Who pushed the button on the new gadget earlier that evening ?

Marge Olsen, long time president of the BBC, insisted that everyone walk a couple of blocks to eat at one of her favorite restaurants. We would love it. The food was delightful. The atmosphere lovely. We would be pleasantly surprised. Forty BBC birders managed to run ahead of the traffic across the four lane highway and walk to the restaurant. As the party turned the corner of the building, there were weeds growing six feet high in front of the entrance door. The place must have been closed for decades :-)

From the archives of the Bristol Bird Club