Blue Wall Preserve, 27 May

[Donna Slyce Bailey <dsbailey@conterra.com>]

Another tardy but worthwhile I think report -

On Monday, 27 May,  on the strength of Robin Carter's recommendations, my
little sister Bonnie Slyce and I visited the Blue Wall Preserve on the
SC/NC border just north and west of Landrum, SC.  The last four miles of
the Palmetto Trail are the only trail through the preserve.  Although the
trail is steep in places, we managed just fine.  It is truly a beautiful
place, cove hardwoods at the beginning of the trail changing into mixed
hardwoods and hemlock and rhododendron thickets as we climbed.  I listened
quite happily to birds too far away in the tall trees or too deep in dense
understory to see - Scarlet Tanager, Blue-headed Vireo, Indigo Bunting,
Blue Grosbeak, Hooded Warbler changing into Black-throated Green Warbler,
Black-throated Blue Warbler, Ovenbird, Swainson's Warbler, Wood Thrush,
Rose-breasted Grosbeak as we climbed.  Red-eyed Vireos sang from
everywhere.  I quickly re-learned not to be fooled by the Hooded
Warbler-like alarm calls of the resident chipmunks.  At one point I stood
above a rhododendron thicket listening to a Swainson's Warbler singing
below me in the midst of the thicket.  I listened to two, possibly three,
Wood Thrushes debating territory borders, with a Black-throated Blue
Warbler and a Black-throated Green Warbler adding their voices to the
discussion from time to time, all of the birds singing excitedly.  For many
of those species, there aren't too many places in South Carolina where they
can be found during the breeding season.

Among the other "rare in South Carolina" animals encountered at the Blue
Wall Preserve was a Black Bear.  The bear was merely curious about the
voices it heard along the trail and exhibited no aggression at all, peering
at us through the understory of a rhododendron thicket.  We calmly and
quietly and expeditiously walked on, leaving that portion of the trail to
the bear for a period of time.  

Among the reasons I had wanted to go to the Blue Wall Preserve was to be
sure that a planned summer vacation of some hiking/birding in the Northern
Rockies wouldn't leave me too pooped to watch birds.  I didn't anticipate
that my "bear aware" responses would also be tested!


Donna Slyce Bailey		
Winnsboro, SC

e-mail: dsbailey@conterra.com

URL:  http://www.conterra.com/dsbailey
	Where are the Birds?  Migration across South Carolina