Friday, July 30, 2010
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| 2/23/2009 5:56:00 PM |
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Huntington bird enthusiast brings knowledge to bird club
Carolyn Harmon
reporter
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| Wendell Argabrite, of Huntington, was the guest speaker at the Handlan Chapter Brooks Bird Club meeting at the South Charleston Public Library Feb. 18. Argabrite has spotted the most species of birds in West Virginia. |
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SOUTH CHARLESTON - The Purple Gallinules, American Coots, Eurasian Wigeons, Blue-winged Teals and Black Scoters are here or heading this way.
A packed crowd from the Handlan Chapter Brooks Bird Club, eagerly awaiting these and other species, enjoyed guest speaker Wendell Argabrite at last week's meeting. Argabrite, of Huntington, is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced birders in West Virginia, according to Handlan Chapter Brooks Bird Club President Jim Waggy.
So far, Argabrite has spotted 302 different species of birds in West Virginia, which according to Waggy is the highest state total.
"That's an extremely high number to see within our state borders, since we aren't on a major flyway," Waggy said. "You have to see many birds that are rare in West Virginia to get such a high species total."
In addition to identifying birds within the state, Argabrite has traveled widely on birding trips and his species total for North America is well over 700. Proof of Argabrite's sightings is his slides that he shared with the fellow birders. His primary topic was Waterfowl of West Virginia, including some rare species and how and where to identify them.
While the photographs were impressive, his detailed approach to identifying the birds must parallel walking through the Louvre identifying paintings with Michelangelo. The man knows his stuff.
"Does somebody want to identify that one for me?" Argabrite asked. "It is an immature Mute Swan. This one has a little collar in the bill, a sunken place. Here is the adult Trumpeter Swan, which can be really tricky to identify. See that big bill? It looks like a wedge. Here's the Tundra Swan. You can see that yellow spot right in front of the eye and its bill has a little concave in it. A Ring-neck can be identified from a long way off by its crescent color. You'll catch the sunlight reflecting off of the right ring on their bill."
According to Argabrite, the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam in Gallipolis Ferry is a good place for spotting some of these birds. The Short-eared Owl was seen near the pond about an hour before dark, as well as the less common Red-throated Loon. A very rare species is the White-winged Crossbill.
"I've been bird watching for a long time, since back in the '50s, and the only White-winged Crossbill I ever saw in West Virginia was in 1963. I would suggest to anyone who hasn't seen them to go up around Cranberry Glades and hunt them up because it may be many years before they ever show up again. They like hemlock really well, so if you know of any large groves of hemlocks you might want to go there," he said.
After the presentation, Argabrite took questions and explained the best time to seek out rarities during migration in the fall and the spring is during stormy weather.
"Most of these birds can be found in West Virginia; right now is the time to go and look for them," he said.
The Handlan Chapter Brooks Bird Club meets each third Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the South Charleston Public Library. For more information, log onto www.kvbirdclub.org.
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