2007 ANNUAL MEETING TO BE IN BRISTOL

May 4-6

Click here for the draft minutes of the TOS Board of Directors and annual membership meeting held as part of the annual meeting.

The 2007 TOS spring Annual Meeting will be held in Bristol, Tennessee and Virginia from Friday, May 4 through Sunday, May 6. The Stephen M. Russell Chapter of the TOS is hosting the meeting. Registration Friday evening and the meetings and dinner on Saturday will be held at the Waldo Miles Retreat Center. The center is at Sugar Hollow Park, Bristol, VA, which is on Lee Highway (US 11/19) about ½ mile north of the intersection with Old Airport Road. This is at Exit 7 on I-81, Bristol, Virginia. For information, contact Bill Grigsby, bill@bristolbirdclub.org.

Lodging
A block of rooms at the La Quinta, 1014 Old Airport Road, Bristol, VA, has been reserved for TOS. Call Stephanie McReynolds at (276) 669-9353, for reservations. Be sure to ask for the TOS meeting rates, which are $56.00 per night ($62.72 with tax). These rooms will be held for TOS members until April 20.

This hotel is at Exit 7 of I-81 in Virginia. For more information and directions to the hotel visit the La Quinta website: http://www.lq.com/lq/index.jsp and use the locator for Bristol, Virginia.

Field trips
Trips will be held Saturday and Sunday morning. The destinations are:
Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area
Grayson Highlands State Park
Whitetop Mountain
Beartree Lake / Campground
Steele Creek Park, Bristol
Roan Mountain
Shady Valley
More information on the field trips is available below.

Registration and Banquet
The registration fee is $10. Saturday Banquet and Program is $15.00. Attendees may pay upon arrival, but pre-payment is encouraged. Pre-registration by April 20^th is required for the dinner. Send checks to Bristol Bird Club, care of Janice Martin, 701 Euclid Avenue, Bristol, VA 24201.

Tentative Agenda:
Friday, May 4
6:00 PM, Waldo Miles Retreat Center - Registration and refreshments; announcements; sign-up for field trips

Saturday, May 5
7:00 am -12:00 pm Field trips-depart from La Quinta
12:00 pm-1:30 pm Lunch break
2:00 pm - Paper session - location to be announced
?? TOS Board of Directors meeting - time and location to be announced
6:30 pm – Banquet at Waldo Miles Retreat Center, followed by TOS Annual Meeting and program by Dr. Richard Peake

Dr. Richard (Dick) Peakeis a life member of the AOU, the Association of Field Ornithologists, the Carolina Bird Club,the Houston Audubon Society, KOS, TOS (both Tennessee and Texas), VSO, and the Wilson Ornithological Society. Now Professor Emeritus of English, Dick gives illustrated bird programs and does occasional volunteer and professional birding tours in Texas and Virginia. He is the author of "Birds of the Virginia Cumberlands".

Field Trip Destinations:
- Field Trip #1: Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area - VA. Clinch Mountain trends from SW to NE just west of Saltville, Virginia. The Wildlife Management Area contains 25,477 acres of montane forest, ranging from 2200 to 4700 feet in elevation. Mature-growth forests of oak and hickory, rhododendron thickets, beaver ponds, rushing streams, Laurel Bed Lake (at 3674 feet in elevation), meadows, shrublands and red spruce forest provide a great variety of habitat.

Among the many birds possible in this mix of habitats are: Wood thrush, Veery, Eastern wood Pewee, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Blue-headed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Ruffed Grouse, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Wood Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers.

- Field Trip #2: Grayson Highlands State Park, VA. At an elevation of 3853’, the 4800 acres of parkland provide great birding opportunities. Habitats range from open meadows, northern hardwood forest, Fraser fir groves, red spruce forest, and rhododendron thickets to sphagnum bogs.

The habitat variety offers great birding opportunities including Alder and Willow Flycatcher at the Massie Gap rhododendron bog. Breeding birds include Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Canada Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Vesper Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Black-capped Chickadee, Ruffed grouse and Wild Turkey. Migrants in the area should include: Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Blackburnian Warbler, Veery, Hermit Thrush and more!

- Field Trip #3A: White Top Mountain - VA. In Virginia, at 5520 feet elevation, White Top Mountain is second in elevation only to neighboring Mount Rogers. It is the highest mountain in Virginia accessible by automobile. The road meanders through eastern and northern hardwood forests, open meadows, mountain balds, birch-and-spruce forests and northern red spruce forests.

Near the top, park in the parking lot and walk the last leg of the road that curves to the mountain crest. Along the way, look for Chestnut-sided Warblers, Black-capped Chickadee, Dark-eyed Junco, Blue-headed Vireo, Black-throated Green Warbler, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper and possible Red Crossbill. Near the parking lot, short trails lead off into the forests and open meadows. Look here, also, for Golden-crowned Kinglet, Veery, Hermit Thrush, Eastern Towhee, American Goldfinch and Common Ravens.

- #3B. Beartree Lake/ Campground - VA. This campground is at an elevation of 3033 feet and has three major divisions.
A) Beartree Lake is a small lake with a paved loop trail around it. Belted Kingfishers are there and migrants visit the trees around the edges.
B) Open hardwood forest with hemlock groves and rhododendrons are around the Group Camping Area on left. Canada Warblers nest here.
C) The last or Main Campground has bird feeders that attract hummingbirds, woodpeckers, finches, chickadees, nuthatches, sparrows and other typical woodland feeder birds. The surrounding woods abound with Veery and other thrushes, warblers, vireos and flycatchers.

- 3C. Elk Garden - VA. This scenic area is at 4434 feet elevation with bold rock outcroppings and expansive mountain balds surrounded by deciduous, hardwood forests. Nesting birds include Vesper Sparrow, Common Raven, Red-tailed and Broad-winged Hawks, and several species of warblers and flycatchers

- Field Trip #4: Steele Creek Park - Bristol, TN. Nearly 5 miles long and 2 miles wide, Steele Creek Park contains a large intact forest blanketing the Beaver Creek Knobs and a 53 acre lake formed by the damming of Steele Creek. Well maintained trails make even remote areas accessible to the birder.

The forests provide nesting habitat for neotropical songbirds such Acadian Flycatcher, Worm-eating Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush and Scarlet Tanager. Other spring travelers are abundant in their northward migration. The lake is often visited by Green Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron and Osprey. Wood Ducks breed within the park.

- Field Trip #5: Roan Mountain - TN and NC. Roan Mountain rises to 6285 feet and sits astride the TN/NC border. Its crest is covered by grassy balds and stunted forests of buckeye, beech and fir trees, featuring Horned Lark, Vesper Sparrow and Common Raven.

Two hundred acres of Catawba Rhododendron “gardens” create a magnificent purple cloak in June. Below the crest, the forested slopes provide a perfect setting for migratory and resident woodland species. Potential species include: Saw-whet Owl, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren, Dark-eyed Junco, Alder Flycatcher, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Canada Warbler, Ovenbird, Kentucky warbler, Hooded Warbler, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Veery, Wood Thrush, Blue-headed Vireo, Indigo Bunting, Scarlet Tanager and Rose-breasted Grosbeak, etc.

- Field Trip #6: Shady Valley, TN. Shady Valley features great mountain birding from 2,000 to 4,000 feet in Tennessee’s highest mountain valley at its most northern latitude. The primarily, riparian cove hardwood forests contain several territories of Swainson’s Warbler. Rare wild cranberry bogs have attracted Alder Flycatchers and American Woodcock. Elsewhere, the forests feature Black-throated Blue Warbler, Canada Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo and many more summer breeders and neotropical migrants.

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