Vertebrates at or near Highlands Biological Laboratory

Weather: northwesterly breeze, scudding clouds on Saturday morning but then clear, following heavy rain on Friday

Other notes: sugar feeders attracted lots of hummingbirds but this year there were no seed feeders to attract the sparrows, chickadees, nuthatches, and juncos -- white pines near the dining hall had some large open cones but they were not numerous -- these trees also had small immature cones near the very tops -- this is the first year in awhile for mature cones (see Red Crossbill below) -- trees near the dining room had almost as many warblers as last week, either migrating or preparing to migrate

Please send additions/corrections to Haven Wiley

Birds

	Mute Swan	2 on the pond in the golf course -- introduced -- not breeding
	Turkey Vulture	soaring in lowlands
	Red-tailed Hawk	1 sailed overhead early
	Mourning Dove	several birds flew over the dining hall
	Northern Flicker	1 called across the lake
	Pileated Woodpecker	1 called across the lake
	Red-eyed Vireo	at least 4 searching for insects in tree foliage
	Blue-headed Vireo **	probably at least 3 singing near the dining hall and up the hill and some triplet calls too
	Blue Jay	4
	American Crow	several called nearby
	Common Raven *	1 called near the lake -- also one sailed past in the fog at Mile-High Overlook in the Balsams
	Carolina Chickadee	in small groups several places around Highlands
	Tufted Titmouse	2
	White-breasted Nuthatch	1 near the dining hall
	Red-breasted Nuthatch *	4 in the woods up the hill and around the lake
	American Robin	about 20 probably included migrants -- also many along the Blue Ridge Parkway
	Wood Thrush	1 in woods up the hill
	Veery *	2 at least in undestory shrubs up the hill
	Gray Catbird	1 in bushes by the lake
	Tennessee Warbler	at least 8 (migrants in confusing fall plumage)
	Chestnut-sided Warbler *	at least 1 (migrants in confusing fall plumage)
	Magnolia Warbler *	at least 4 (migrants in confusing fall plumage)
	Blackburnian Warbler *	2, including one bright bird (but not as orange as a male in spring)
	Hooded Warbler	1 male near the dining hall, 2 or more females or immatures up the hill, all in shrubs in the understory
	Northern Cardinal	4
	Rose-breasted Grosbeak *	2
	Song Sparrow	at least 6 on the ground and in shrubs near the dining hall, many appeared to be immatures -- stalked by the cat with a bell (silent)
	Dark-eyed Junco **	4 on the ground and in shrubs near the dining hall, others up the hill
	Purple Finch *	1 alighted atop a white pine, also 2 flying overhead -- the bird that alighted had dark plum-purple plumage of an adult male -- 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 -- once early in the morning, again just before dinner -- see the notes on this species on last week's trip
	American Goldfinch	1 flying over, also 1 in a bush beside the dining hall, the latter a male molting from its bright yellow summer plumage to its pale brown winter appearance

Mammals

	Short-tailed Shrew	one dead on the drive to the dorms (work of the cat with the bell?)
	Star-nosed Mole	one dead near the Nature Center up the hill (also the work of the cat with the bell?) -- this mole (a distinctive genus not the common mole of golf courses and lawns) is rarely seen dead or alive
	Red Squirrel *	several in the pines, often uttering its long chatter

* 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