Vertebrates at or near Highlands Biological Laboratory

Weather: sunny and chilly -- light northerly breeze -- after a cold front passed on Thursday night September 14-15

Other notes: very few migrant birds around the Highlands Biological Station -- but a number of hawks migrated southward in the updrafts over Whiteside Mountain

Please send additions/corrections to Haven Wiley

Birds

	Great Blue Heron	1 (flew over the pond)
	Sharp-shinned Hawk	2 (flew past Whiteside Mountain)
	Cooper's Hawk	3 (at Whiteside Mountain including one that flew up the trail and swerved before hitting me!)
	Goshawk*	1 (adult soaring with Broad-wings over Whiteside Mountain -- a very rare species in NC -- possibly nesting in the southern Appalachians but no nests have been discovered south of West Virginia)
	Broad-winged Hawk	12 (soaring southward in the updrafts over Whiteside Mountain -- on their way to South America)
	Peregrine	2 (including 1 or 2 adults that put on a fantastic show at Whiteside Mountain and 1 immature that swooped over the dining hall at the Biological Station -- an endangered species and NC's largest falcon)
	Mourning Dove	10
	Black-billed Cuckoo*	3 (including two calling at the Biological Station in the morning and another calling atop Whiteside Mountain)
	Chimney Swift	1 (flying past Whiteside Mountain headed for South America)
	Ruby-throated Hummingbird	1 (visiting Impatiens for nectar)
	Belted Kingfish	1 (beside the pond)
	Hairy Woodpecker	1
	Downy Woodpecker	1
	Eastern Phoebe	1 (calling beside the pond -- a flycatcher)
	Blue Jay	10
	American Crow	at least 10 (in small parties -- probably families)
	Raven*	2 (calling in distance)
	Carolina Chickadee	6 (3 pairs)
	Tufted Titmouse	4 (2 pairs)
	White-breasted Nuthatch	1 (with titmice)
	Carolina Wren	2 (male and female)
	Gray Catbird	1
	Brown Thrasher	2
	American Robin	20
	Golden-crowned Kinglet*	2 (calling in hemlocks)
	Blue-headed Vireo **	2 (including one singing very briefly)
	Black-throated Green Warbler**	NONE THIS YEAR!
	Black-throated Blue Warbler**	NONE THIS YEAR!
	Hooded Warbler	2 (including a male that approached closely)
	Rose-breasted Grosbeak*	NONE THIS YEAR!
	Song Sparrow	4
	Dark-eyed Junco **	20

Mammals

	Eastern Cottontail	2 (presumably this species -- the rare New England Cottontail* might also occur -- it is almost impossible to identify without measuring a specimen)
	Gray Squirrel	2
	Red Squirrel *	several "singing" in hemlocks
	Eastern Chipmunk	several around the buildings
	American Beaver	lodges at edge and near center of lake

Reptiles

	Northern Watersnake	1 sunning itself under the bridge over the outflow from the pond

Amphibia

	Spotted Salamander	old gelatinous egg-masses at the edge of the pond (eggs had long ago hatched)
	Green Frog	many around the edges of the pond, squeaking when they jumped into the water

* northern species that extend southward in the mountains to southern Appalachians

** northern species that extend southward in the mountains and have evolved distinctive subspecies (geographical variants) in the southern Appalachians