FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] RPT: Wolfe County, 4/5/2006

["Palmer-Ball, Brainard \(EPPC OOS KNPC\)" <Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxx>]

Work took me to the Red River corridor of Wolfe County, upstream from the Red 
River Gorge, on Wednesday. A three-mile "hike," primarily through thickets of 
rhododendron and mountain laurel took about seven hours! It was a beautiful 
day, though, and a variety of wildlife and flora made the "work" enjoyable. Six 
species of salamanders (including 2 Greens and a Four-toed), a Rafinesque's 
big-eared bat in a cliffline shelter, Cinnamon fern fiddleheads, and a cute 
little nest full of White-footed mice in a cliffline crevice were some of the 
non-avian highlights. In the White pine/hemlock-dominated forest were numerous 
Blue-headed Vireos and Black-throated Green Warblers, plus a few 
Black-and-whites. I kicked up a Ruffed Grouse in one small opening and also 
heard the persistent yaaaaank-yaaaank-yaaaank-yaaaank of a possibly territorial 
male Red-breasted Nuthatch (some 3.5 or so miles east of Frank Renfrow's Rock 
Bridge population).

bpb, Louisville