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Ridge Junction 8/27



Dwayne and I "officially" started our fall migration count this morning at
Ridge Junction Overlook, located at milepost 355.8 on the Blue Ridge Parkway
at the entrance to Mt. Mitchell.  We plan to conduct the count next weekend
(Labor Day) on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday---so all you out there
who are skeptics, just pick a day and come see for yourselves.  Just
remember that if you don't get there early, you won't see the good numbers
as most our our tally comes through between 7:00am when the count starts and
9:00am.  We had an excellent morning--not only were we joined by Bill
Sanderson from Asheville, and Gerry Fedde from Hickory---but there were
actually birds there for them to see!!!!  Highlights included:  not 1 but 2
male Cerulean Warblers who both posed nicely for our eager eyes (Bill, you
left five minutes too soon for that cup of coffee!), an immature Nashville
Warbler, and a Cooper's Hawk doing a terrific peregrine imitation with a
flock of Waxwings!  Noticeably absent were Red Crossbill and Pine Siskin.
We had them on each of our counts last year but have yet to see or hear them
on several trips this summer.  In all, we tallied 41 species including 13
species of warbler and 3 vireos.  Here are the results:

Cooper's Hawk    1
Common Raven   8
American Crow   5
Downy Woodpecker  1
Hairy Woodpecker  2
Chimney Swift  6
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  58
Empidonax Flycatcher sp.  3
Eastern Pewee  4
Tree Swallow  1
Red breasted Nuthatch  6
Winter Wren  1
Gray Catbird  1
American Robin  3
Veery  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  8
Golden-crowned Kinglet  4
Cedar Waxwing  40+
White-eyed Vireo  1
Blue-headed Vireo  7
Red-eyed Vireo  2
Black and white Warbler  3
Tennessee Warbler  9
Nashville Warbler  1
Magnolia Warbler  2
Yellow Warbler  1
Cape May Warbler  3
Black-throated Blue Warbler  15
Black-throated Green Warbler  36
Blackburnian Warbler  15
Chestnut-sided Warbler  5
Canada Warbler  1
American Redstart  1
Cerulean Warbler  2
Red-winged Blackbird  1
Scarlet Tanager  23
Summer Tanager  1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  2
American Goldfinch  5
Rufous-sided Towhee  3
Northern Junco  7

*************************
Dwayne & Lori Martin
Foothills Bird Club
Claremont, NC
dlmartin@twave.net