It was October of 1971 and I was a teenager in secondary school in South Woodstock, Vermont when the only Ph.D. (Cornell, ornithology) on the faculty invited me birding for my first time. The school required that all students work in some non-scholarly capacity and instead of toiling away on the school's farm (I was born and raised in New York City with little of the heritable bucolic in me), I had agreed that with the coming spring semester I would help out with the school's bird banding station (my first job would be to help complete the construction of what would ultimately be a banding operation of more than 50 mist nets). It was either our first or second stop of the trip. With my mentor's patience advice, borrowed Bushnell binoculars and a bird guide (it must have been the Golden Birds of North America by Chandler Robbins, et al.), I identified a male Common Redpoll. While I already knew some very common birds, this was my very first species as a birder. Now, 36 years and 6,428 total ticks later I found the Hohenwald redpoll this morning at 7:12. Thanks again for Bill Pulliam and his mother, Betsy Russell. For Nashville area birders who have yet to see the bird, one alternative route is to use Natchez Trace Pkwy that cuts through Hohenwald (exit at Highway 412). On my way back from about 7:30 to 8:15 (ending at Leipers Fork) I saw only eight cars. On the weekend the traffic should increase but for wildlife and the best scenery around it is rather better than I-65. Kevin Breault Brentwood, TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________