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Re: Richland-Balsam Gap-Blue Ridge Parkway



On June 19 my husband and I took visiting out-of-state birders to the
Devil's Courthouse area of the Blue Ridge Parkway to watch the P. Falcons
put on an awesome evening display.  An adult carried in quite a large (the
dangling wing appeared to be nearly crow size) unidentifed bird for dinner
which the young were eager to eat.  We then went to the Black Balsalm area.
 During this time I heard the coos of a dove or pigeon which reminded me of
the voice of a dove I had heard in Hawaii.  I thought my ears were
deceiving me and so just discounted the sound.  For that reason I don't
remember from which of the two areas I heard the calls.  I also don't know
if I was hearing a loud call from a distance or a soft closer call.  Nancy

At 06:31 PM 6/25/01 -0400, Wayne Forsythe wrote:
>Folks,
>        Sorry for this late post, but I've had computer problems.
>On Saturday AM, June 23 at about 11:30 AM Bob Olthoff and I were birding the
>southern end of the Blue Ridge Pky.  While we were at Richland-Balsam Gap,
>elevation 6,054 feet, Bob called my attention to a large pigeon that was
>flying south along the gap.  The bird was uniformly light beige or gray in
>color with a very light colored tail.  We got brief views of the bird and
>could not make the call.  This bird was immediately followed by a second
>pigeon that was behind and to the east of the first bird,  and we got very
>poor views of it.  We heard no vocalizations during this time.  We last saw
>them flying southwest down the parkway.  While I believe there is a small
>chance that these birds were Band-tails, pigeons on the parkway, especially
>at 6,000 feet,  are not in my experience, a common occurrence.  With the
>recent report of Band-tailed Pigeon at Devil's Courthouse by Robin Carter,
>our curiosity was more then aroused.
>        We also had 3 Red Crossbills & Pine Siskins in the same area.
>                                                                Regards,
>                                                                Wayne K.
>Forsythe
>
>Hendersonville, North Carolina
>
>
Nancy Iha
niha@citcom.net
at Slick Rock above 3000'
Brevard, NC