[EMAS] BRP and Bald Knob Ridge in Black Mountains this morning
- From: Marilyn Westphal <mjwestph@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: carolinabirds <carolinabirds@xxxxxxxx>, emas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 30 May 2012 17:30:41 -0400
Mark and I had a very pleasant morning birding the Black Mountains
this morning. It started out rather breezy and foggy, but cleared up
by mid-morning. Most interesting sightings:
The Magnolia Warbler we first found last Thursday along the Bald Knob
Ridge trail is still there and still singing, but has moved downslope
a bit from the trail and is harder to hear from the trail. It was in
a grove of spruce saplings. Looks like it wants to make a go of
nesting there. Hope it finds a mate.
Also on the same trail but farther down we found a Hermit Thrush
carrying food (a green caterpillar), a very active Red-breasted
Nuthatch nest hole (Mark took some pictures of Nuthatches bringing in
food), and a couple of very cute, noisy, very recently fledged junco
chicks - practically tail-less and still with some downy feathers.
At Balsam Gap there was a flyover flock of about 10 Red Crossbills.
That might turn out to be a good spot for them this summer. At least
there appear to be lots of cones on the spruce there. There are also
some spots in the Balsam Mtns that look like the cone crop is pretty
good, so maybe they'll stick around some of those areas as well.
We'll be checking that soon.
We also drove up to Mt Mitchell to check on the flycatchers, but heard
only a couple of Least, no Alders. It was still foggy and windy the
first time we were up there, though. Although clear later when we
went up for lunch, it was noon and not much was singing.
Happy birding!
Marilyn
--
Marilyn Westphal
Hendersonville, NC
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