 |
|
|
| Mute Swan | 2 on the pond in
the golf course -- introduced -- not breeding |
| Turkey Vulture | soaring in
lowlands |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1
female perched inconspicuously in the woods behind the dining
hall -- until a Raven began harrassing it |
| Mourning Dove | several birds flew over the dining hall |
| Eastern Screech-Owl | 1
repeated whinny calls about 2:30 during the night |
| Downy Woodpecker | 1 called
in the woods |
| Northern Flicker | 1
called across the lake |
| Pileated Woodpecker | at
least 3 called in various directions and 1 swooped into a tree behind the
dining hall to offer a good look! |
| 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 Wood-Pewee | 1 called pee-ah-wee
repeatedly near the dining hall |
| Blue-headed Vireo
** | probably at least 5 singing near the dining hall and
up the hill |
| Blue Jay | 2 |
| American Crow | several called nearby |
| Common Raven * | 1 or 2
called early in the morning and again when they spotted the Sharp-shinned
Hawk -- also one called at Mile-High Overlook in the Balsams |
| Carolina Chickadee | in small groups several places around Highlands |
| Tufted Titmouse | 2 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 2 in the pines |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch * | 2 or more in the woods near the buildings |
| Brown Creeper * | 1 in the big white pines sang a few times -- first
time I have ever heard its song! |
| Carolina Wren | 1
singing near the dining hall |
| American Robin | about 10
probably included migrants -- also a few along the Blue Ridge
Parkway |
| Gray Catbird | 1 in
bushes by the lake |
| Tennessee Warbler | at least 10
(migrants in confusing fall plumage) |
| Chestnut-sided Warbler * | at least 4
(migrants in confusing fall plumage) |
| Magnolia Warbler * | 1 (migrants in
confusing fall plumage) |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler ** | 1
bright male and 1 drab female or immature |
| Black-throated Green Warbler ** | 4,
including one bright male, others in duller female or immature
plumage |
| Blackburnian Warbler * | 1 female or
immature |
| Yellow-throated Warbler | 1 beautiful
bird in bright plumage in the dark pines |
| Ovenbird | 1 singing weakly |
| Hooded Warbler | 1 male singing near the
dining hall -- later in plain sight |
| Northern Cardinal | 4 |
| Rose-breasted Grosbeak | 3 in trees near
the dining hall, all in drab plumage, also heard squeaking |
| Song Sparrow | at least 6 on the ground
and in shrubs near the dining hall |
| Dark-eyed Junco ** | 4 on the
ground and in shrubs near the dining hall |
| Purple Finch * | 2 alighted atop a white
pine, earlier 1 in a small tree near the dining hall -- all in streaked
brown plumage -- this northern species is sparse and irregular in the
southern Appalachians during the nesting season |
| Red Crossbill * (possibly ** or
****) | 2
or more flying over calling jip-jip-jip -- this species has its
bill crossed to allow it to extract pine nuts from cones -- it
is nomadic and appears at Highlands only in years with mature
cones on the white pines -- crossbills that feed on different
species of pines have different bills and different calls --
each bill/call variety might be a reproductively isolated
species -- if so one is restricted to the southern Appalachians
where it is a very rare bird |
| American Goldfinch | 1 flying over |
* 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
