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Good News All Around



1.  Best of all - the Blue Ridge Parkway is open again all the way through.  I 
drove from Craven Gap to the Bull Creek overlook (the Cerulean section).  
There were lots of Ceruleans and lots of Blackburnians as well as Ovenbirds, 
B&W Warblers, N Parula, BT Blues, etc.  Also heard a couple of E. W. Peewees - 
first for the year for me.
2.  The Warbling Vireo is back, at last, at Beaver Lake in Asheville.  It was 
in the Sycamore Tree next to the first Bluebird box (which is now a Tree 
Swallow box) on the trail along the lake.  It was singing from there, then it 
flew over to the peninsula that juts out from the sanctuary and I lost it.
3.  The Henslow's Sparrow is still on Butler Farm Rd in Henderson County.  
This may not be good news for him, though, as he is very likely to have that 
hayfield mowed out from under him soon.  Strangely, the Grasshopper Sparrows 
may have abondoned that field for the same reason.  Although I have seen some 
there, I have yet to hear any singing there this year.  I think the field was 
mowed at a very bad time for them last year.  Anyway, I found another field 
along Schoolhouse Rd that seemed to have several G Sparrows in it.  This, I 
think, will be a better field for them as it hasn't been used (by people that 
is) in recent years.  By the way, there was a flock of about 20-25 Bobolink, 
also the first for the year for me, in the Butler Farm field yesterday 
morning.  Didn't see them today, though.
Okay, so I was a little late for work this morning!
Marilyn

Marilyn Westphal
Environmental Quality Institute
University of North Carolina-Asheville
One University Heights
Asheville, NC  28804
828/251-6823
mjwestphal@unca.edu