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Big Day in Mountains
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Big Day in Mountains
- From: mjwestphal <mjwestphal@unca.edu>
- Date: Mon, 05 May 2003 14:12:15 -0400
- Delivered-to: pardo@metalab.unc.edu
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
On Sunday, 5/4 Bob Olthoff, Wayne Forsythe, Jonathan Mays, and I went out for
our annual Big Day count that covers Henderson and Buncombe Counties in the
southern NC mountains. It was a great day, we had a great team, and we
smashed the previous record of 115 for a new total of 120. As is typical in
the mountains, the vast majority of species were songbirds, but we did manage
to pull out several shorebirds as well. The variations between the kinds of
species you get in Henderson County with its broad, flat flood plains and the
variety of elevations and habitats along the parkway in Buncombe County make
this count great fun. Running the count at this time also means that we still
can get a lot of the winter sparrows as well as the breeding and further
migrating warblers. We didn't find any really unusual birds except the
Henslow's Sparrow which is still here and a rather uncommon for spring
migration Bay-breasted Warbler. Some of the highlights were:
Shorebirds (8) including SemiP Plover, Killdeer, Greater and Lesser
Yellowlegs, Solitary, Spotted, Least, W. Snipe
Red-breasted, White-breasted, and Brown-headed Nuthatch, Brown Creeper,
Carolina, House, Winter, and Marsh Wren, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned
Kinglet, Veery, Wood Thrush
Vireos (5) including White-eyed, Blue-headed, Yellow-throated, Warbling, and
Red-eyed Vireo
Warblers (23) including N. Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Cape May, BT Blue,
Yellow-rumped, BT Green, Blackburnian, Yellow-throated, Pine, Bay-breasted,
Blackpoll, Cerulean, Black & White, American Redstart, Worm-eating, Ovenbird,
N. Waterthrush, Kentucky, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded, Canada, YB Chat
Sparrows (11) including Eastern Towhee, Chipping, Field, Grasshopper,
Henslow's, Song, Swamp, Savannah, White-throated, White-crowned, Dark-eyed
Junco
Raven, Orchard and Baltimore Oriole, and a nice bubbly flock of about 35
Bobolink
Most Notable Misses:
Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Hairy Woodpecker, Willow Flycatcher (most of them
will be coming in this week), and Cedar Waxwing
Next year 125??
Marilyn
Marilyn Westphal
Environmental Quality Institute
University of North Carolina-Asheville
One University Heights
Asheville, NC 28804
828/251-6823
mjwestphal@unca.edu