-------------------------------FORWARD MESSAGE ------------------------------------- From: Ryan Smith [mailto:ryan_smith@xxxxxxx] Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 2:34 PM To: Spahr MD, John This is a bit dated already, and it's a bit south of the area you're combing, but excited by your charge to seek out high elevation breeders (actually a desire to get out of the sweltering Piedmont), I spent last Tuesday (July 6) in the Mount Rogers area. Despite a persistant wind that seemed to threaten to wash out the day, I got 41 species from Grayson Higlands SP up to Mt Rogers and added 8 more at Whitetop Mtn. Most notable bird, I think, was 2 'Myrtle' Warblers, one very beautiful male and one possible female or young male (I had only a brief backlit look at this bird), just before entering the spruce forest on the Mt Rogers spur trail off the AT. Saw them in a very birdy spot with several Magnolia Warblers, some kinglets, a couple of nuthatches and a chickadee with many juncos around. I suppose I might have called it a loose mixed flock in other seasons. Male sang at least once that I heard, but didn't seem to be acting too territorial. It was hard to follow him, and very hard to pick him out through the din of juncos added to the wind. A Myrtle was also seen at Clingman's Dome in the Smokies that weekend. Have they been present as breeders in Mt Rogers area in recent years? I also managed to hear and find one singing Purple Finch on my way back down the AT toward Grayson, in the camping areas a little past the AT shelter. Missed Swainson's thrush (know anything about their current status at Mt Rogers?), empids, Y-b sapsucker, Northern Saw-Whet Owl, and horned lark. Good numbers of most of the other high elevation species (Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Yellow-Crowned Kinglet, etc) though only 2 chickadees (any idea if the Black-capped in Mt Rogers area are rather pure?) and 2 Winter Wrens. Good numbers of most the other high and mid elevation warblers, Blackburnian only at Whitetop, very high numbers of Magnolia at Mt Rogers (one of the 2 or 3 most abundant birds near the top), only two Canada Warblers all day. When the wind died down enough, heard many, many Hermit Thrushes at Mt Rogers. Lots of sparrows (field, vesper, song, chipping, junco, towhee), four or five Bobwhite along Rhododendron Gap trail. They were cutting red spruce in the nice stand about 1/2-3/4 mile up the forest road to Whitetop Mtn. Said the 'pine beetle' had been found in a few and were trying to contain it. While birding far enough up the road to get away from the harvest noise I had a flock of crossbills fly over (I've visited this spot twice and had this happen both times), blackburnian and black-throated blue there. An Accipiter also blasted across the road into the forest up the road. There was a Kestrel working the fields near the top. Cheers, Ryan _________________________________________ Ryan Smith, Freshwater Ecologist The Nature Conservancy 6114 Fayetteville Rd., Suite 109 Durham, NC 27713 ph-(919) 484-7857 ext.150; fax-(919) 484-7357 -------------------------------------------end forward--------------------------- sent to Bristol Birds Net by Wallace Coffey Bristol, TN ************************************************* BRISTOL BIRDS NET LIST Bristol Birds Net Photo Gallery located at: http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jwcoffeyy/album?.dir=/efd5 This is a regional birding list sponsored by the Bristol Bird Club to facilitate communications between birders and bird clubs of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. -------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed to Bristol-Birds. To post to this mailing list, simply send an email to: bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, send an email to bristol-birds-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the one word 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. -------------------------------------------------- Wallace Coffey, Moderator wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (423)764-****