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Warblers and more warblers



Bob Olthoff and I did a Big Day count in Henderson/Buncombe Counties in the
southern NC mountains on Saturday and came up with 109 species.  Although we
had some problems with raptors and waterfowl, we did pretty well on song birds. 
The parkway was great, as it always is at this time of year.   Besides the
usual permanent residents we found:
22 species of warbler including N. Parula (many), Yellow (several),
Chestnut-sided (many), Cape May (several), Black-throated Blue (many),
Black-throated Green (many), Blackburnian (many), Yellow-throated (a few), Pine
(a few), Prairie (one), Blackpoll (a few), Cerulean (8-10, all in the stretch
of parkway from Craven Gap to just past the Bull Creek overlook), Black and
White (many), A. Redstart (many), Worm-eating (several), Ovenbird (many),
Northern Waterthrush (one), Kentucky (two), Common Yellowthroat (several),
Hooded (many), Canada (many), and YB Chat (a few).  We missed La.Waterthrush. 
They have mostly stopped singing.  Swainson's and Golden-winged breed too far
from our route.  Also seen:
5 species of Vireo including White-eyed, Blue-headed, Yellow-throated,
Warbling, and Red-eyed.
Sparrows included Chipping, Field, Grasshopper, Song, White-throated,
White-crowned, and Savannah as well as Dark-eyed Junco and E, Towhee. 
White-throated, White-crowned, and Savannah numbers have declined dramatically
since last weekend.  I'll be surprised if any of them hold out until next
weekends migration count.
High elevation species were also almost all singing.  These incuded
Golden-crowned Kinglet, Veery, Winter Wren, Blue-headed Vireo, Brown Creeper,
and Pine Siskin.
	All in all, it was a fine day.  The next day we went up to Max Patch in
Haywood County to check out how may Golden-winged Warblers and Least
Flycatchers had showed up on the Max Patch Road so far.  We counted 10
Golden-wings and 15 Least Flycatchers including one Least building a nest. 
This road is also great for multitudes of Blackburnian and Chestnut-sided
Warblers as well as lots of Black-throated Blue.  In the 7-8 mile drive to the
top I would guess we had at least 30 Chestnut-sided and maybe 20 Blackburnian
alongside the road.  Many other warbler species were also found.  Yet another
fine day with the Wood Warblers.
Marilyn Westphal/Hendersonsonville, NC
mjwestphal@unca.edu