Vertebrates at or near Highlands Biological Laboratory
September 9-10, 2006
Weather:calm, misty the first morning, clear the second
Other notes: new bird feeders attracted chickadees, nuthatches, and
hummingbirds -- few migrants -- White Pines
had no cones or tiny (1 cm) green cone buds
Please send additions/corrections to
Haven Wiley
Amphibia
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| Gray Treefrog
Hyla chrysoscelus | calling infrequently in woods |
Birds
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| Mute Swan | 2 on the pond in
the golf course -- introduced -- not breeding |
| Turkey Vulture | soaring in
lowlands |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 1 swooped
into perch in the woods beside the dorms |
| Peregrine | 1 sailing along the
cliffs at Whiteside Mountain (a regular nesting site) |
| Belted Kingfisher | 1 making its
rattling calls around the lake on Saturday morning, perhaps the same one found
dead below a large window on Valentine Hall (female in beautiful new plumage),
none around the lake on Sunday! |
| Downy Woodpecker | 1 called near
Weyman Hall |
| Northern Flicker | 1 called near
Coker Lab |
| Pileated Woodpecker | 1 called
across the lake |
| Least Flycatcher (probable) * | 1
perched atop a tree beside Weyman Hall -- hard to identify when not calling
but this bird had the generally gray coloration of this species |
| Eastern Phoebe | 1 beside the clearing below
Valentine on Saturday |
| Blue-headed Vireo ** | 3 singing Sunday
morning near the Coker Lab |
| Blue Jay | 4 |
| American Crow | 6 flying
over (probably a family or two) |
| Common Raven * | 1 or 2 called in
the distance at Mile High Overlook south of Heintooga |
| Carolina Chickadee | 4 |
| Tufted Titmouse | 6 |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch * | 4 at
the feeder and in the conifers near the buildings |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet * | 2 in
pines |
| Carolina Wren | 1 |
| American Robin | 4 probably
included migrants |
| Swainson's Thrush | 1 (migrant) |
| Tennessee Warbler | 1 (migrant) |
| Ovenbird | 1 |
| Hooded Warbler | 1 female with almost as
much black as a male |
| Northern Cardinal | 4 |
| Eastern Towhee | 2 |
| Song Sparrow | 1 at the feeder |
| Dark-eyed Junco ** | 4 an unusually low
number |
| American Goldfinch | 1 flying over |
Mammals
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| Gray Squirrel | 1 |
| Red Squirrel * | not a one seen
or heard (first time this species absent at Highlands) |
* northern species that extends southward in the mountains to southern
Appalachians
** northern species that extends southward in the mountains and has
evolved a distinctive subspecies in the southern Appalachians
*** species with a northern subspecies that extends southward in the
mountains to the southern Appalachians
**** species confined to the southern Appalachians
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