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Bob Holmes makes the NC 400 Club!



Several of us made the trip from New Bern & Beaufort up to Manteo today,
3/18, to see the
Allen's Hum.  Fortunately, this bird gave Bob Holmes his 400th North
Carolina bird!!
Of course Bob extends his heartfelt thanks to the grosbeak up in Elizabeth
City,
the Dovekie off the end of the Triple-ess Pier Sunday a week ago, and of
course, the
Thick-billed Murre at the Ft Macon Jetty last Tuesday--quite a kick to the
finish line!

Rumor has it that Clancy Ballenger called ahead and had a round of drinks
for the house
already set up by the time Bob made it over to the bar this evening at the
New Bern
Country Club.  There might have been just a little celebrating in order!

For Bob, this marks a significant milestone in his lifetime of birding.  A
charter member
of the Carolina Bird Club, he started  birding as a Boy Scout and has been
hard at it
for the rest of his almost 72 years.   To my knowledge, his fieldwork is
responsible
(or co-responsible) for adding at least seven species to our state bird
list: Common Eider, Purple Sandpiper, Masked Booby, Black-backed Wagtail
(with John Fussell), Cave Swallow
(with Fussell and  Larry Crawford), Gyrfalcon (with myself), and Calliope
Hum. (with Fred Thompson & myself).

He's the only person I know that's not a falconer that can claim to have
seen five species of falcons in North Carolina--he saw a Prairie Falcon on a
power line near Sea Level, NC in 1968.
(The bird didn't have a tether or jess, but the possibility of an escapee
couldn't be ruled
out.)  All this isn't bad for a man that was heavily involved in medical
practice while also
raising three children.  It was fitting that his best friend and partner in
medical practice,
Dr John Baggett was with him when he saw #400 today.

So, to one of North Carolina birding's unique and special personalities, we
say a hearty
CONGRATULATIONS!!

>From those of us priviledged to be with you today for the big event-

Gene Howe
Ricky Davis
Tommy Wade
Rich & Susan Boyd
Wade Fuller (New Bern, NC)

Now if some of you can figure out how to talk Bob into using his wife's
computer so he
can read this!!!