Congratulations, great fun indeed! Birders all over the country are now doing
this. Of course, the great prize is Texas with 254 counties, and more
challenging too is listing beyond the home state (for example, KY has 120
counties, so TN + KY = 215). In the South the big number is Georgia with 159
counties, second highest in the U.S. How many counties are there? I think the
number is 3,144 counties (and "equivalents"--they don't call them counties in
some places, e.g., AK). If only I was young! I wonder if a county by county
guide to birding TN might be the next step.
Kevin Breault
Brentwood, TN
________________________________
From: tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of
Ron Hoff <aves7000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2017 9:05 PM
To: TN-bird
Subject: [TN-Bird] Tennessee County Birding
TN-birders,
A lovely Cedar Waxwing in Hickman County this morning culminated a years-long
fun birding project that Dollyann and I have been working on. We have now
recorded 100 species in every one of Tennessee's 95 counties. I'm not even sure
why we started this endeavor, but I can tell you that it has been a ton of fun!
We have travelled so many back roads in this gorgeous state and seen so many
wonderful sights that the birding was almost (almost) secondary.
It's been a fantastic way to see the state and visit places that wouldn't have
ordinarily showed up on our radar. It has also taught us so much more about our
birds, from tiny sounds they make to habitat requirements necessary for their
survival. Then there were always the surprises. Like Forest Gump said, "you
never know what you're going to get". For instance, last spring, just before
the TOS state meeting, we were birding in Wayne County in SW TN. We had been
looking for migrating warblers and commented that we still hadn't seen any Palm
Warblers. The very next day we must have had 70 of them! They literally came in
over night. They were in 4's and 5's everywhere. Also last spring we were out
late listening for nightjars when we heard a Barn Owl. In 40 years of birding
that was only the 2nd time I have ever heard that. The other time was in Knox
County with Susan Hoyle.
We rarely went to a county and completely dipped on birds we were looking for.
We also found our fair share of interesting places to eat (both plus and minus)
and places to stay (again both plus and minus). Of course spring was always the
highlight, but we found that many counties which lacked much water in the form
of lakes or ponds, needed to be visited in several seasons to get to 100
species.
In this day and age of eBird, we would encourage folks to make sure they record
birds that they find using the breeding and behavior codes, like "FL" for birds
that have fledglings and "NE" for a nest with eggs, etc. These codes can be
found on the eBird site under "breeding codes and behavior codes". Data entered
with these codes added can make the data far more useful in the future.
Great birding to all and thanks to many folks who have helped us over the past
several years to find many special birds. Now for 150 in each county.....
Ron Hoff & Dollyann Myers
Clinton, TN
