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Touch
of Gray - May / June 2004
Birds
and Birders at Carolina Meadows
Two Remarkable Brothers
Birds
and Birders at Carolina Meadows
Birdwatching, or simply birding [from the
newly coined verb "to bird"] is an activity which can be enjoyed
by young and old, for it can be as strenuous, and require
as much bird knowledge as one can manage, or it can be a laid-back
lovely pastime of merely watching the antics of our feathered
friends. The knowledgeable young like to organize Birdathons,
usually money-raisers, or simply Big Days, whereby teams or
individuals try to identify as many bird species as possible
within a 24-hour period in a given area, such as the State
of New Jersey, or possibly even Texas.
Here
at Carolina Meadows Maury Graves organizes Christmas and spring
bird counts in our area and surrounding property. Those with
the stamina to walk perhaps a mile or so are assigned sections
of the area to count on foot or perhaps by car, in cold, rain,
or shine. The Christmas Count is our contribution to the annual
National Audubon Christmas count, which has taken place since
1900. Approximately 40-50,000 birders count in 15-mile diameter
circles all over the USA and Canada, and more recently in
Latin America and the Caribbean as well. Ours is a small section
of the Chapel Hill Count, which is centered at Franklin and
Columbia Streets.
The
less agile seniors are assigned their own yards and feeders,
always with the proviso that they are able to identify our
native species. We count total numbers, as well as individual
species. There is always the question: "How do you know you
are not counting the same bird twice?" Well, one has to use
one's common sense, and count only the maximum number of males
and females seen in a given area at one time. Prior to the
counts, Bobbie Wilkerson-Hahn and/or Maury Graves lead campus
walks to refresh memories and to see what might be present.
This
year we had the excitement of finding a new species never
before seen at Carolina Meadows. Eleanor and Fred Kilgour,
expert birders who now count from their large picture window,
had set out a hummingbird feeder with the hope of finding
a winter hummingbird, a rare event. Lo and behold, one arrived
on Count day! (Actually it had been seen for the previous
few days.) Winter hummingbirds are not easy to identify. Most
of them are young, and not in breeding plumage. The Kilgours
called Susan Campbell, a hummingbird expert. Fortunately the
bird came and Susan caught it with a trap. She placed a tiny
band on its leg and measured various feathers to aid in identification.
The bird proved to be a Rufous Hummingbird, normally found
in the far west. However, in recent years, several of the
western hummingbirds have been identified in winter in the
east. Our only summer species is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
About
14 individuals counted this past year on a very cold day,
including two sons of residents: Steve Graves, son of Maury
and Marie Graves, and David Murdock, son of Miriam and Harold
Murdock -both expert birders, and a very valuable addition
to our count. Last year David spotted a hen Turkey sitting
on a nest in the forest. In the spring she was occasionally
seen leading her brood around some of the villas.
The
Kilgours have also been faithful participants in the Comell
feeder watches for the past 8 to 10 years. Every other weekend
from late fall to early spring they report all birds seen
on or near their feeders. Kim Aycrigg has also done this for
the past 5 years.
Our
spring count, conducted at peak migration time, will be held
May 9 this year. Last year 64 species were identified, including
13 kinds of warblers, 2 hawk and 2 owl species. It is always
a joy when Purple Martins join us ~18 were spotted that day.
We have 4 martin apartments on campus for them.
A
number of residents have erected bluebird houses in their
yards, with excellent results. Nan Emory and others feed the
birds mealworms to aid in their producing a successful brood.
Unlike Carol Woods, we have not organized a bluebird trail,
in which the boxes are opened from time to time to check on
the eggs and young, with data recorded from year to year.
Many
feeders are to be seen on campus, not only around villas,
but also at apartments, on windowsills or on windows, attached
with suction cups. Volunteers have also placed feeders around
the health center and assisted living, which gives much pleasure
to those housebound.
Joe
Fisher, formerly with the CIA, is a resident who has achieved
national acclaim as a birder with well over 700 species of
birds identified in the USA and Canada. His wife, Parkie,
is probably not far behind, since she has usually accompanied
him on his trips. Joe has been known to jump on a plane to
Florida, for example, when he hears of a rare bird on the
hot line, and actually find it. He has covered Alaska as far
as Attu out on the Bering straits to find new birds, as well
as most habitats of our other states. All this has been accomplished
with the handicap of a severe hearing loss dating from WWII
as an antiaircraft officer, where the decibels destroyed his
eardrums. The ability to recognize birds by their song is
a pronounced asset in birding. Now with depletion of visual
acuity Joe is resigned to living with his memories, which
include an extensive bird slide collection.
Professor
Nelson Hairston, formerly of UNC- Biology, but for many years
at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, is an expert who
can readily identify bird song, and also enjoy nature trips
with his wife Patty. This fall they accompanied the writer
to Churchill, Manitoba, to see Polar Bears and Arctic Foxes,
but also Willow Ptarmigans in snow-white winter plumage, Snowy
Owls, a remarkable snow-white Gyrfalcon, Eider Ducks, and
thousands of Snow Buntings.
More
than a dozen Carolina Meadows birders have visited the Carolinas
and adjacent coasts in the past for fall birding trips, especially
to see Tundra Swans, Snow Geese, and myriad ducks. The writer
has participated in birding adventures on all continents except
Antarctica, and was compiler for the Jordan Lake count for
more than 20 years. Beth Duncan has considerable experience
in Venezuela and the Caribbean.
The
Carolina Meadows Bird Club has monthly meetings, which may
include an outside speaker, a film or slide show related to
birding or other nature topic, and discussions on recent bird
sightings. Currently we have about 130 residents on our membership
list. Many of course fall in the category of nature lovers
who lack specific identification knowledge. However, isn't
that true of most of our population? Tons and tons of birdseed
are sold each year throughout the country. People just like
to look at and admire these beautiful little "people", and
compare their actions with our own. For seniors with time
on their hands, this is a very joyous activity.
-- Barbara Roth, Resident
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Two
Remarkable Brothers
There are many sibling relationships
at Carolina Meadows. At last count we had twelve pairs of
sisters and six brother and sister pairs living here. But
there is only one pair of brothers on campus - Bob and Walt
Rabb. Truly a remarkable pair - and very different they are
too.
Walt,
the older brother, ninety years old this year, better known
among sports fans as Coach Walt - was NC Sports Hall of Fame
baseball coach at UNC/CH from 1947 to 1977. The academics
remember the younger brother, Bob, eighty-five this year,
as a soft-spoken professor of Entomology at North Carolina
State from 1953 to 1983, an early proponent of using non-toxic
materials to control insect pests.
The
Rabb brothers are native sons of North Carolina. They grew
up in Lenoir in Caldwell County in the shadow of Grandfather
Mountain. "Furniture country." Bob calls it. His father ran
a clothing store, later was a banker and for a time was city
manager of what in its heyday was a major furniture-manufacturing
center.
From
their earliest years the boys seemed to move along different
career paths.
Walt
was into sports from year one. At Mars Hill near Asheville
(then a Junior College) he was the first student to win letters
in all four sports, football, baseball, tennis and basketball.
He was a good tennis player but baseball was his prime love.
He took his BS degree in Education at North Carolina State
in 1937 and was hired as coach and history teacher at Cary
High School where he served for three years. Three years of
military service in World War Two followed. He then moved
to UNC at Chapel Hill where he completed his Master's in 1941.
In
his legendary coaching career at UNC, Walt served as Director
of Intramural Activities, Associate Professor of Physical
Education, Associate Director of Intercollegiate Athletics,
and most importantly Varsity Baseball Coach from 1947 to 1977.
In his second year of coaching in 1948, the team made history
by winning the Southern Conference title and making the NCAA
Tournament for the first time in program history. Walt posted
a career record of 540-358-9.
When
he retired in 1977 he still maintained his interest in sports
and young people. In Chapel Hill with Louis Rubin he founded
the Babe Ruth baseball league for youngsters. When he moved
to Carolina Meadows in 1989 he quickly became involved in
many of the community's sports, which were, then in their
early stages. Golf had started a year earlier with just three
holes. He helped to organize weekly tournaments and over the
years was active in expanding the course to its present full
nine holes.
Walt's
brother, Bob, followed a different path. As he himself recalls,
he was in love with Nature from his earliest years, always
interested in plants and creatures of the wild. After high
school Bob worked for a year in a furniture factory to raise
money for college. He spent two years at Mars Hill and then
worked for another year, this time on a beef cattle farm in
western North Carolina. He followed his brother Walt to State,
enrolling in the Wildlife Management curriculum.
Bob
served for almost four years in the Army Air Corps in World
War Two, most of that time in the Pacific Theater. On his
return to State he earned his BS and MS and finally his Ph.D.
in the science of entomology. He served on the faculty for
thirty years, ending up as William Neal Reynolds Professor
of Entomology. Friends who have admired Bob's striking landscape
paintings in our Club Center will be more interested in knowing
that his reputation as an entomologist is worldwide. Even
before Rachel Carson's Silent Spring sounded the alarm about
pesticides, Bob was urging the use of non-toxic methods to
control insects. This point of view pervades entomology today
as the program called Integrated Pest Management.
A
former colleague of Bob's is Betty McMahan, who also is a
Carolina Meadows resident. Betty was Professor of Zoology
at UNC/CH for 26 years. In 1972 Bob and a colleague from State
attended an International Entomology Congress in Canberra,
Australia. Bob reported to scientists from 45 countries on
the biology and control of two species of Heliothis, the tobacco
budworm and corn earworm, important pests of tobacco and many
other plants.
One
afternoon Bob and a colleague from State decided they would
leave the conference, rent a car and drive into the desert
and see a little of the local scene. Who do you think they
met out there? It was none other than Betty McMahon, their
colleague from UNC.
Betty
was in Australia on an eight-month research project studying
termites, a subject on which she is a world authority. "They
had some wonderful termites out there," she recalls. Nowadays
we know Betty better as a contributor of delightful cartoons
to The Meadowlark, our community newsletter.
What
do Walt and Bob most enjoy at Carolina Meadows? Visits from
their families, of course. Walt has two children living nearby,
Amy in Moncure and Walter Junior in Gastonia with his two
grandchildren, Walt and Rob. Bob has two children. His daughter,
Jean Rabb Irvin, is in Winston-Salem and his son, Randy, lives
in San Diego. Three of his five grandchildren live in Charlotte
and he is blessed with three great granddaughters, Tori, Maggie
and Lizzie, living in Winston-Salem. Two of the Charlotte
grandchildren are expecting two more additions to Bob's extended
family this spring.
Recently
both of the Rabb brothers received special recognition from
former students and colleagues. At UNC the University baseball
program dedicated the Walter Rabb Lounge in Boshamer Stadium
in Walt's honor. The lounge is outfitted with thirty years
of uniforms and memorabilia of Walt's coaching years. Paying
tribute at the affair were Director of Athletics, Dick Baddour,
Dean Smith of basketball fame, former wrestling coach, Bill
Lam, and Walt's Carolina Meadows neighbor, former Chancellor
Bill Aycock.
Bob's
tribute over at State centered on the inaugural lecture in
a new lecture series named in his honor. When he retired Bob's
many friends and colleagues remembered him with this program
aptly named The Robert L. Rabb Environmental Science Lecture
Series. The lectures are designed to raise the level of appreciation
within and outside the scientific community for the interdependencies
among all forms of life. The first lecture, given at Raleigh's
McKimmon Center, by E.O. Wilson, a world-renowned entomologist
and evolutionary biologist from Harvard, played to an overflow
audience. Appropriately the subject was "Exploration of the
Biodiversity of Earth - a Little Known Planet."
-- Des Reilly, Resident
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