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Max Patch



I made a trip up Max Patch road today (in the mountains outside
Asheville), hoping to find a Golden-winged Warbler, but no luck.  It was
a rainy, foggy morning, so maybe that kept them quiet.  I do think that
I heard a couple of birds, but was never able to see any to confirm it.
The ironic thing was, after I got back to my hotel room I started
reading a book called Birders, Tales of a Tribe, by Mark Cocker.  (It's
very good by the way - it is about birders in Britain.)  Anyway, not
five minutes after I got back to the room there I was reading about the
discovery of a Golden-winged Warbler at a supermarket parking lot in
Kent . . . .  And I can't find one here ;-)

I did however, get to see a Least Flycatcher, which was a life bird for
me.  It was nice to actually find the bird after hearing a call that
made me think - that HAS to be a Least Flycatcher - since I was just
going off of the written description of the call and had not listened to
it on CD (had the warbler CD in player instead <g>).

I had an interesting experience with a fledgeling White-breasted
Nuthatch.  At one point when I parked my car on the gravel road and got
out, I looked down and there, about 4 or 5 feet away in the middle of
the road, was the little guy (or gal - what do I know).  I got a few
close up looks at him, and then spent a while cajoling him off the
road.  Since he didn't know what my purpose was, he didn't cooperate by
hopping/fluttering in a straight line towards the grass!  He wasn't able
to fly yet, and would come right back to the ground every time he
tried.  There didn't seem to be an adult bird around while I did this,
but one flew in a few minutes later and the little guy could clearly be
heard squeaking away.

I did hear or see Chestnut-sided Warbler, American Redstart,
Black-throated Blue Warbler and Worm-eating Warbler along either Max
Patch Road or Meadow Fork Road.  Not much else of interest.

Tomorrow I will try the Blue Ridge Parkway before heading for off-topic
Tennessee and Kentucky.

Amalie Tuffin
Durham, NC