Venture to the Blue Wall Preserve & FENCE
Monday, April 19, 2004
The Palmetto Trail in the Blue Wall Preserve gradually climbs up the Blue Ridge Escarpment entering a mix of deciduous and pine forests. Despite the forest damage over the past few years, before it was protected, the forest is recovering and the birdlife is a nice blend of Mountain and Piedmont species. We did see a nice pair of Scarlet Tanagers, but the Summers were nowhere to be seen this time. Despite this, we had great views of warblers, including Hooded, Black-and-white, Black-throated Blue and an outstanding Yellow-throated that came so close to us that we did not even need binoculars. A great view! Also notable were the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers building their nest and scope views (for the whole group) of Louisiana Waterthrush. How often does that happen? The birding drops off very suddenly in the heat of the day, so we headed over to FENCE in the afternoon. Not much was happening there either, but a walk around the pond did produce a striking Green Heron, along with yet another Worm-eating Warbler and a small flock of Rub-crowned Kinglets. As well as enjoying the birds, the butterflies were also obvious, the best being a fine Pine Elfin that Gail found puddling on the mud along one of the lake shores. Another great spring birding day!
| Birds | |
| Green Heron (1) | Yellow-throated Vireo (1) |
| Canada Goose | Red-eyed Vireo (5+) |
| Turkey Vulture | White-eyed Vireo (1) |
| Osprey (1) | Northern Parula (Heard) |
| Broad-winged Hawk (2 pairs) | Black-throated Blue Warbler (1♂) |
| Red-tailed Hawk (1) | Yellow-rumped Warbler (10+) |
| *Wild Turkey | Black-throated Green Warbler (Hd) |
| Killdeer (Landrum) | Yellow-throated Warbler (1) |
| Mourning Dove | Pine Warbler (Heard) |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird (1) | Black-and-white Warbler (2) |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker (Heard) | *Magnolia Warbler (1) |
| Eastern Phoebe | Worm-eating Warbler (3) |
| Eastern Kingbird (1) | Ovenbird (Heard) |
| *N. Rough-winged Swallow (ST) | Louisiana Waterthrush (2) |
| *Tree Swallow | Common Yellowthroat (3) |
| Barn Swallow | Hooded Warbler (3) |
| Horned Lark (Landrum) | Scarlet Tanager (1 pair) |
| Blue Jay | Northern Cardinal |
| American Crow | Indigo Bunting (2♂♂) |
| Carolina Chickadee | Eastern Towhee (Heard) |
| Tufted Titmouse | Field Sparrow (Heard) |
| Carolina Wren (Heard) | *Swamp Sparrow (1 -ST) |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet (3) | White-throated Sparrow (Heard) |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - nest building at Blue Wall | Eastern Meadowlark (Landrum) |
| American Robin | Brown-headed Cowbird |
| Northern Mockingbird | American Goldfinch (Heard) |
| *Brown Thrasher | House Sparrow |
| European Starling | |
| * indicates seen by only 1-2 people | |
| Other Critters | |
| Gray Squirrel | Blue Gill Sunfish |
| American or Fowler’s Toad | Large-mouthed Bass |
| Tiger Beetle sp | Common Whitetail Dragonfly |
| Turtle sp | |
| Butterflies | |
| Orange Sulphur | Variegated Fritillary |
| Falcate Orangetip | Anglewing sp |
| Sleepy Orange | Pearl Crescent |
| Cabbage White | Juvenal’s Duskywing |
| Azures (sp unknown) | Horace’s Duskywing |
| Eastern Tailed Blue | Dreamy Duskywing |
| Cloudless Sulphur | Northern Cloudywing |
| Pine Elfin | Carolina Satyr |
| Red Banded Hairstreak | Gemmed Satyr |
| Tiger Swallowtail | Silver-spotted Skipper |
| Zebra Swallowtail | Skipper - sp unknown |
| Spicebush Swallowtail | |
