All,
The 115th National Audubon compilation for the Fort Belvoir CBC is nearing
its completion. Along with the extraordinary job the various leaders have
done, I have the solemn duty of communicating to you of Larry Brindza's
retirement from leading the Burke Lake Sector for the Ft B CBC.
Larry has performed admirably in a leadership role for the Fort Belvoir
Count over a period of 30 years, having only missed the 1998 count (I can
only hope it was due to a beach somewhere to our south!). He has organized
the Burke Sector - often overlooked by local birders but essential to the
overall CBC due to its nearly annual production of a few key species - in an
outstanding fashion through sun, rain, ice, snow and frigid cold. His
efforts has resulted in the documentation of a wide range of common species
as well as rare birds during this period - on the rare side during my
tenure his sector has produced great finds such as Rough-legged Hawk,
Iceland Gull, Thayer's Gull, the last CBC sightings of Fairfax County
Northern Bobwhites for the circle, Long-eared Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl,
Common Raven (not found until recently in the Ft B circle) and the first
record - and then the second! - of Brown-headed Nuthatch for Fairfax County.
This was only possible due to his in-depth knowledge of the habitat in the
Burke Sector.
Please take a moment to applaud Larry's efforts in citizen science and his
contributions to conservation.
Larry, on behalf of all of us Fort Belvoir CBC volunteers - please accept my
grateful Thank You for your considerable efforts! We can only hope to seek
your advice to help guide our future counts and we look forward to meeting
you in the field.
"Fair Winds and Following Seas..."
Kurt Gaskill
compiler, Ft B CBC
