Black-throated Blue Warbler
Alice had a bridge tournament in Hendersonville, NC, and I went along to do some birding. We were there in June 2015, and I got some good birds on that trip. We had a couple of choices for getting there. One was south through Greensboro, NC, and then west, or I-81 through southwest Virginia, and then I-26 south through Asheville. We took latter route as it was supposed to be 30 minutes faster, but that turned out to be a bad choice. We've never seen I-81 so busy all the way, and I-26 had major construction from north of Asheville all the way south to Hendsersonville. I had one target bird species for this trip: Swainson's Warbler.
July 27; Blue Ridge ParkwayMy first day plan was to go up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. My car and iPhone navigation systems didn't show a good way to get there other than on I-26. Traffic was terrible, and my car navigation system got lost because of all the weaving back and forth off and on the interstate and lane changes. Luckily, I saw a road sign for the Blue Ridge Parkway, and got off I-26. I found the parkway less birdy and not as good as the parkway in Virginia. The parkway in NC was more like Skyline Drive - very few places to pull off except for overlooks that had lots of tourists at each overlook, and very few birds. The best spot I found was at the Mt. Pisgah picnic area. I ended up with three warbler species this first day of birding. I got photos of Black-throated Blue and Chestnut-sided Warblers, and saw a Common Yellowthroat.
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warblers
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler and Tufted Titmouse
Blue-headed Vireo
Juvenile Dark-eyed Junco
Juvenile Hairy Woodpecker
I had one target bird today - Swainson's Warbler. There are two races of Swainson's Warbler. One race lives in swampy areas, and the other in mountainous areas. The mountain race prefers areas near mountain laurel.
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As I neared the parking area, I thought I heard a Swainson's Warbler one time, but kept going. All I found up in the parking area was a Carolina Wren, so I headed back down. About 1/4 mile down, I heard the chip of a Swainson's Warbler, and then heard one singing multiple times. Twice, I saw an adult Swainson's Warbler fly across the road and disappear into a wall of mountain laurel. Numerous times, I heard it singing in nearby trees, sometimes right above me, but I could not find it with all the leaves. But I did hear a chip right next to me, and was able to get a few photos of a juvenile Swainson's Warbler. While not the same as clear photos of an adult, getting any photos of a juvenile Swainson's Warbler made my day.
Juvenile Swainson's Warbler
Juvenile Swainson's Warbler
Juvenile Swainson's Warbler
Juvenile Swainson's Warbler
Interesting ground fungus nearby
After returning to Hendersonville, I stopped briefly at Jackson Park and birded for a bit, and rather than fighting I-26 traffic again, I decided to stay close to our hotel, and spent my last two birding days exploring Jackson Park. Although the park is really for baseball and other sports, there's a good, one mile long loop trail along almost swampy areas, as well as some hilly, wooded areas. With the high temperatures, I hiked only for a couple of hours each morning, and added a few species to my trip list.
July 28-30; Jackson Park; Hendersonville, NC
Eastern Bluebirds
Brown Thrasher
Brown Thrasher
Northern Cardinal
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Indigo Bunting
Belted Kingfisher
Eastern Phoebe
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Song Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Eastern Towhee
Eastern Painted Turtle
Eastern Painted Turtles
Common Yellowthroat
First year Yellow Warbler
First year Yellow Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow Warbler
White-eyed Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
I ended up with only 39 avian species on this trip, but no complaints!
Trip list:
American Crow
American Goldfinch
American Robin
Belted Kingfisher
Black Vulture
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Blue-headed Vireo
Brown Thrasher
Carolina Chickadee
Carolina Wren
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Chimney Swift
Common Yellowthroat
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Towhee
Eastern Wood-Pewee
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Hairy Woodpecker
House Finch
House Wren
Indigo Bunting
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Northern Mockingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Song Sparrow
Swainson's Warbler
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow Warbler
