[va-bird] More sapsuckers; beautiful mountain orchids

Eleven members of the Bristol Bird Club went 4-wheeling into the cool clouds 
among the high mountains of Southwest Virginia Saturday and found yet more 
breeding territories for the Appalachian Yellow-bllied Sapsucker.
All morning sapsuckers came out of the woods for us.   This very 
difficult-to-find woodpecker, lives sparsley in spotted habitat amongst the 
ridges of this beautiful Blue Ridge mountain chain.  They entertained us nearly 
everywhere we looked in these higher elevations of the Jefferson National 
Forest's Mount Rogers National Recreation Area.

We saw six (6) sapsuckers along the four-mile length of the 'Possum Creek jeep 
trail on the northwest face of Stone Mountain up to the "Scales" at 4,400 feet 
elevation at the Appalachian Trail and Pine Mountain in Grayson County.   

Five of those birds were at two new breeding territories Ron Harrington and 
Wallace Coffey had not found Friday.   Friday's birds were above 4,000 feet and 
the BBC field trip birds Saturday were below 4,000, except for one.  We have 
now found five territories along this route in two days.  Checking all the 
sites by gender of birds for the two days, we have found eight (8) sapsuckers 
along this road.  The elevations of the territories range from 3,860 feet to 
4,300 feet. 

It took us two hours to crawl the 4-wheelers and birders to the Scales area at 
Pine Mountain in the high country. in their recently-purchased vehicle.

Don Holt and Mary Evans were convinced two patches of near lilac-colored 
fringed orchids growing along a little watercourse and in an open sun-spotted 
forest floor were the Small Purple Fringed Orchid.  Many other of these plants 
have yet to bloom.  The floresence on one tall attractive plant was 6 inches 
and the plant itself reached 20 inches.  Several of the Round Leafed Orchids 
with their losely spaced white flowers were seen at one station.  .

At the Scales horses were coming and going along the horizon on the famous 
Virginia Highlands Horse Trail.  Short strings of AT hikers passed, heading up 
slopes into the sky.  The riders were all ages.  Many teenagers and a few very 
young riders convincingly mounted and in control.

Then we looked across the mountains on to Homestead Road in the headwaters of 
Comers Creek in Grayson County and decided to go over that ridge down into 
Smyth County and the Hurricane Branch area.  We did and we visited the disjunct 
and very low elevation nesting site of the Golden-crowned Kinglets.  It has 
been active this year and last.  They are nesting in an old Forest Service 
planted row of tall Red Spruce which were set out many years ago for a road 
screen at a wildlife opening.

Birds for the 4-wheeling trail and vicintiy:

Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Acadian Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Barn Swallow
American Crow
Common Raven
American Robin
Veery
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Ovenbird
Black-thraoted Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Indigo Bunting
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Eastern Towehee

Let's go birding.....

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN



















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