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Big Day in Mountains



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