The Chat
Buchanan County Bird Club Newsletter
Editors Roger and Lynda Mayhorn

The Buchanan County Bird Club meets the
2^nd Monday of each month at the
Buchanan County Public Library at 6:00 PM

Volume 5     Issue 8     August 2006

Teta Kain, nature photographer, birder, past president of the VSO, compiler of the Audubon bird counts and active member in the preservation of Dragon Run, a cypress river in Eastern VA, was the guest speaker at the Aug. 14 club meeting. Teta had dinner on Monday evening with several BCBC members at the local Bellacino’s Restaurant in Grundy. The group then drove to the Buchanan County Public Library, where Teta presented an excellent slide program of a trip by ship to the South Pacific and the ice near the Antarctic continent. Teta kept the group laughing and spellbound with her amusing stories and interesting photos of the trip.

Upon hearing of the demolition of the town of Grundy Teta asked if she could see some of it the next day, as well as photograph it. Permission was obtained by club president, Roger Mayhorn and club vice-president, Ed Talbott III soon had her outfitted in hard hat and construction vest, both required by VDOT when on a construction site. Teta spent most of the next day with Roger Mayhorn, Sheldon Woods and videographer, Russ Belcher, watching and photographing the demolition of buildings in Grundy. The town is being demolished and relocated across the Levisa River, where it will be out of the flood plain.

Club members wish to thank Mrs. Kain for driving 8 hours to spend the night in Grundy in order to present her program to the club. The effort was greatly appreciated.

Saturday September 9 – Warbler Day at the Mayhorns’ on Compton Mt. Bring a lawn or camp chair and your favorite soft drink. The Mayhorns’ will serve their usual free lunch.

Monday September 11 – Regular monthly club meeting. Peggy Spiegel of the New River Valley Bird Club will present a program on “The Dashing World of Hummingbirds”.

Sunday September 17 – Hawk Watch at Birch Knob in Dickenson County

On August 19 Roger Mayhorn noticed an unusual small bird in the cherry tree just outside his kitchen window on Compton Mt. After getting a close look he saw that it was a Tennessee Warbler, the first of the fall migration. This is a new early date for that species in Buchanan County. The previous early date was from 2005 on August 22.

The Birder of the Month Award for July goes to Dave & Diana Worley for the lifebirds they got while on a birding trip to Trinidad and Tobago, two islands in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela. Dave got 70 new lifebirds and Diana got 120. Congratulations Dave & Diana.

BCBC Members, David and Susan Raines, displayed a colorful and well made bird quilt at the last club meeting. David’s brother, Jim, and his wife created the quilt for David and Susan as a gift. This is the second beautiful bird quilt recently displayed by club members. The first was a quilt made for Michelle Talbott by her mother, Shirley Justus. 

This juvenile Black Tern, usually found on the coast, was photographed by Richard Kretz at the Russell County annual picnic at Laurel Bed Lake in Russell County on August 19. Dave and Diana Worley were also present to see this unusual bird. Though these birds are definitely unusual to the mountains they are occasionally found flying over larger bodies of water in the area. Great photo Richard. 

Trip to Trinidad and Tobago

Rosedale club members, Dave and Diana Worley recently got the opportunity to go with a birding group to the islands of Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. The group stayed at the Asa Wright Nature Center on Trinidad, which had a beautiful veranda with a fantastic view. The group took several birding trips and added many new species to their lists of life birds. On Tobago the birders stayed at the Cuffie River Lodge, which had large comfortable rooms and good food.

Some of the birds seen on the trip were Bearded Bellbird, Oilbird, Tuffted Coquette, Yellow Oriole, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, White-tailed Sabrewing, Ruby Topaz Hummingbird and Red-footed Booby.

A Sharp-shinned Hawk has been coming to the Mayhorns’ yard and getting his breakfast and dinner. One day the hawk gave chase to a small bird that was doing its best to stay out of reach. The hawk was within a foot or so of the bird as they crossed the yard, but it looked like the bird got away when the two went into the trees.

Several Great Blue Herons have been seen flying and feeding along the Levisa and its tributaries during the summer. Their numbers seem to be increasing in the area. We should locate a nesting site in the area within the next few years, so keep your eyes open for herons carrying sticks in the spring. Recently Roger Mayhorn was told that back in the spring two herons were seen carrying sticks to a tree across the river on the right, just past the Vansant traffic light. 

Six White-tailed Deer have joined the birds, the chipmunks, rabbits and Gray Squirrels in the Mayhorns’ yard on Compton Mt. First a single doe was seen a few weeks ago. Then a doe with two spotted fawns showed up to munch on the apples. They must have passed the word because now there are three does and three fawns coming in morning and evening to enjoy the fallen apples. The fawns run and play and chase each other. They are all okay until a car passes, then they disappear quickly into the woods.