[TN-Bird] Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge Report
- From: Charles Murray <dro_1945@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: TN- BIRD <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2012 17:45:16 -0800 (PST)
The hooded crane was NOT seen today at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in Meigs
Co. at Birchwood. It was last observed on Monday of this week. Hundreds of
sandhill cranes were very active in the morning. Due to rain and poor
visibility, I didn't have a good opportunity to check for whooping cranes at
Hiwassee Island. Sixty four visitors to the HWR today included residents of
Tennessee and Georgia, as expected, but also people from North Carolina,
Virginia, and Colorado. The total number of visits to the HWR since December 14
when the hooded crane was first reported on TN-Bird has now reached at least
4,067, NOT INCLUDING visits during the crane festival! Visitors have signed in
from 46 states and 13 countries! Numerous visitors have remarked that the
Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge is a beautiful place to view birds. Clarifying my use
of the term "visits,"I request visitors to sign the visitor list EACH DAY that
they visit because each visit has a potential
economic impact for Tennessee merchants and sales tax receipts. Therefore, on
a particular day, some "visitors" will be at HWR for the first time, but others
may have visited HWR before that day. Incidentally, MANY visitors from out of
state have spent two or more days in Tennessee because they didn't see the
hooded crane that they wanted to add to their "life list" the first day. I've
been told more than once by visitors that when no one from the Tennessee
Ornithological Society was present to welcome visitors that many people didn't
notice the visitor list and therefore were NOT COUNTED. I suspect that this
number exceeds the number of repeat visitors, but I have no way to document
this. It is obviously impossible to know how many different visitors have come
to HWR during this time period.
Charles Murray
Birchwood, TN
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