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Blue Ridge birding



Though raptor numbers were low this weekend on the Blue Ridge Parkway, 
the Chapel Hill Bird Club trip encountered waves of warblers of 19 
species.  We started off at my place in Fancy Gap (milepost 203), birded 
the Parkway to the Mahogany Rock overlook (mp 235), hiking up to nearby 
Scott's Ridge and Mahogany Rock, and took the NC Audubon-sponsored side 
trip to Bullhead Mountain.

Here are our non-raptor migrant totals for Saturday 9/22 and Sunday 9/23  
- estimates of birds seen or heard singing (not counting a lot of 
miscellaneous chip notes and many warblers that were too fast for us).

1 BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO (NC; heard only)
1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo (h.o.)

3 Common Nighthawk

20 Chimney Swift
5 Ruby-throated Hummingbird

2 E. Wood-Pewee
1 E. Phoebe

1 Yellow-throated Vireo (seen and heard singing)
14 Blue-headed Vireo (seen and heard singing)
2 PHILADELPHIA VIREO (VA; seen and heard singing)
2 Red-eyed Vireo

2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

2 Swainson's Thrush (didn't do any nocturnal listening)

1 Blue-winged Warbler
120 Tennessee Warbler (most common bird of any type)
1 Nashville Warbler
5 Chestnut-sided Warbler
15 Magnolia Warbler
10 Cape May Warbler (mostly imm females, which are about as bright in 
plumage as female House Finches)
20 Black-throated Blue 
25 Black-throated Green Warbler
2 Blackburnian Warbler
6 Pine Warbler
1 Palm Warbler
10 Bay-breasted Warbler
1 Blackpoll Warbler
5 Black-and-white Warbler
7 American Redstart
2 Worm-eating Warbler
3 Ovenbird
2 Common Yellowthroat
6 Hooded Warbler

5 Scarlet Tanager

1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak

The hawk-watchers saw a few dozen Broad-wings, the usual Red-tails, 
several Ospreys, some Accipiters, a Bald Eagle, a few Am Kestrels, and a 
Peregrine Falcon (their first of the season).

It was a nice weekend!

-- 
Charles W. "Will" Cook                  w 919-660-7423
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook            cwcook@duke.edu
Biology Dept., Duke Univ., Box 90340, Durham, NC 27708