BBC Snippets

Link: http://www.freelists.org/archives/bristol-birds/02-2008/msg00063.html

and the itsy, bitsy spider climbed up the spout again

My heart was beating so hard I was in a near panic attack. I began to tremble. My legs were weak. Sometimes you just close your eyes and try one more time to get yourself together. I leaned against a stone wall and slowly gathered my composure.

A minute or two before I had taken a real tumble. It was a nearly vertical free fall of almost 30 feet. Lucky for me, I had one hand on my climbing rope and was able to right myself before hitting on the shoulders of a fellow birder, who broke the fall. He was not hurt and we both lived to tell about it. He had been holding the rope from below. He looked up and saw me coming and just ducked his head and held on. There was no where to go.

Climbing to hawk and owls nests throughout the region had been one of my most satisfying endeavors. Somewhere in there one climb to a Great Horned Owl's nest near Musick's Campground at South Holston reached about 100 feet above ground.

We were always careful to have the best of equipment. Careful detail and effort was placed on safety. A professional climbing belt and such were always used. But we never had any of the modern day conveniences that young people repel with. We didn't even know there was such a thing.

It was a beautiful Sunday on April 2, 1967. Eugene E. Scott from Scott County, Charles R. Smith of Johnson City and myself had made the long climb from Va. Rt. 619 up the southwest slope of Beartown Russell mountain from Corn Valley. Carrying binoculars, camera, ropes and heavy climbing equipment, we had finally reached our goal.

Looming above us was the landmark Pigeon Rock. Local folks in the valley told us eagles had nested on the rock face. They had seen them there in previous years and thought there was a nest up there then. Some had actually seen it. It was huge -- a bulky thing on a big ledge that would be hard to reach.

We were not convinced. It sound like a Northern Raven to us. During the VSO Abingdon Foray, June 1966, C. E. Stevens and J. Watson had found ravens on Beartown Mountain.

As we crawled upon a low ledge from which we would begin our climb, the ravens were out over the slope and circling. We were convinced.

"Scotty," a man of no fear, wanted to tackle the climb without any equipment. He was middle aged and daring beyond belief. He later took a horrible fall from about 40 feet up at a Cooper's Hawk nest near his home at Nickelsville. It broke him all to pieces. He was alone and that was his first mistake. He finally crawled off the ridge and into the road near his home where his wife heard him calling and ran to help. After surgery he was on crutches and out of work for a year. His climbing came to a halt. He never really recovered from that incident.

On this day on the slope of Beartown, he took off his shoes as he like to do and began to climb the face of the big rock by putting his fingers in the crevices and bracing his feet against whatever he could. He soon made it on to the ledge and announced that it was a raven's nest and we had eggs !

He put a rope down the nearly vertical cliff face for me to come up and get measurements and photos. It was on that first attempt that something went wrong and I fell like a rock in a spring thaw.

The ledge was 32 feet and six inches high. The nest contained five eggs. The nest measured 36 inches outside diameter, 13 inches inside diameter and had an inside depth of five inches. It was nine and one-half inches high. The largest sticks were about 1/2 inch diameter and two feet long.

It contained many small pieces of bark. The inside was well lined with wool.

It was under a dominant overhang on a large ledge. There was room for two people on the ledge along with the nest.

We went back in late April or May and got photos of the nest bulging with young.

For some reason, we made no attempt to band them. For that matter, I only banded a handful of birds that year. Don't remember why.

Amazingly, I only have the color slides of the nest and young. I have no written notes and find no trace of activities from the second trip. That's not like me :-(

Let's go birding.......

Wallace Coffey Bristol, TN