Rusty Blackbirds, good sparrows

[E/L Pardue <eljeep@mindspring.com>]

Elisha Mitchell Audubon's special field trip on the Warren Wilson College
campus Saturday turned up several good birds.  Everyone got good looks at
Savannah and White-crowned sparrows at the college's pig pen.  Field,
White-throated and Song sparrows were also seen.  In the farm field near
the sawmill, three or four Rusty Blackbirds joined dozens of starlings,
robins and killdeers.  The day's best raptor sightings were accipter
flyovers -- a sharpie and a second bird that the most keen-eyed among us
were able to id as a Cooper's.  Thanks to Tim Lewis for suggesting and
leading the trip.

Our next outing will be Saturday April 5 at Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary in
north Asheville.  Yielding to spring fervor, we're advancing the start time
to 8 a.m.  A Common Loon and two Hooded Mergansers were seen on the lake
early Saturday.

Len Pardue
Asheville, NC