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Mountains Migration Counts



After participating in two spring migration counts this past weekend, Henderson
County on Saturday and Buncombe County on Sunday (southern NC mountains), I'm
quite exhausted, but it sure was worth it.  Not all of the results are in, but
I believe so far there were 103 species for Henderson and 112 for Buncombe.  
	Len Pardue, Linda King, and I had great success on the Henderson Count
in the French Broad River valley section with a total of 85 species. 
Highlights for us were a Lincoln's Sparrow, 6 Grasshopper Sparrows, 17 Willow
Flycatchers, a Marsh Wren, a flock of Bobolink, 6 species of shorebird, and a
Barn Owl.
	On Sunday we switched gears, moved 30 miles north, about 2000 to 3000
feet higher in elevation, and into the deep forest for the Buncombe County
count.  This time the specialties of the day in my section (Len did another
section that day where he also got some good stuff) were Ovenbirds, Canada,
Black-throated Green, and Blackburnian Warblers, Veerys, Winter Wrens (there is
nothing as as beautiful as the song of a Winter Wren  in the deep woods), Brown
Creepers, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and a drumming
Ruffed Grouse.  What a day!  What a weekend!
	All the section reports aren't in, but so far we have 22 species of
warblers for the Buncombe Count, all breeding birds except Blackpoll and Cape
May.  The most unusual thing about either count was the total lack of
Broad-winged Hawks.  This was absolutely incredible.  I do not know why they
seem to be so scarce this year.
Marilyn Westphal/Hendersonville, NC
mjwestphal@unca.edu