Early
Spring Venture
Early
Spring Venture
to Polk County, NC
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
The weather forecast was terrific with the promise of warm sunny spring weather. Scraping ice off the windscreen of my car first thing in the morning did seem a bit peculiar, but the day certainly turned out to be spectacular. Our first stop was FENCE, the Foothills Equestrian Nature Center in Tryon, where we enjoyed outstanding views across the mountains while 2 pairs of Tree Swallows circled the area. This predominantly northern swallow has only recently colonized the Tryon area and will probably continue to spread further south. Small flocks of Cedar Waxwings and Brown-headed Cowbirds were moving north and the hill above FENCE is always a great place to watch migration. A real surprise came in the form of an American Bittern we flushed from the marshes at the FENCE pond. Unfortunately it disappeared into thick cover never to be seen again. I believe that this was a new bird for the FENCE birdlist. A walk along River Road is always productive but today was fairly quiet. We did hear Louisiana Waterthrush and Yellow-throated Warbler but a passing Sharp-shinned Hawk silenced all of the singers. Surprisingly we did not even hear any Blue-gray Gnatcatchers- always early arrivals. We stayed in open country as spring seemed to be very slow this year in the woodlands. Most of the birds we found were still quite wintry, such as White-throated and Swamp Sparrows, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets (one of which was very colorful showing off his brilliant red crown- great stuff!) We finished the day with a high flying male Purple Martin. Despite only a few spring birds being around, it was a beautiful day in the Foothills.
Simon Thompson
| Birds | |
| Great Blue Heron (1) | Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
| American Bittern (1) | Eastern Bluebird |
| Canada Goose | American Robin |
| Black Vulture (1) | Northern Mockingbird |
| Turkey Vulture | Brown Thrasher |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk (1) | Cedar Waxwing |
| Red-tailed Hawk | European Starling |
| Killdeer (2) | Yellow-throated Warbler (1 Heard) |
| Rock Pigeon | Louisiana Waterthrush (1 Heard) |
| Mourning Dove | Northern Cardinal |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | Eastern Towhee |
| Downy Woodpecker | Chipping Sparrow |
| Pileated Woodpecker | Field Sparrow |
| Eastern Phoebe | Song Sparrow |
| Purple Martin (2) | Swamp Sparrow (2) |
| Tree Swallow (4) | White-throated Sparrow |
| Northern Rough-winged Swallow (2) | Red-winged Blackbird |
| Blue Jay | Common Grackle |
| American Crow | Eastern Meadowlark |
| Carolina Chickadee | Brown-headed Cowbird |
| Tufted Titmouse | American Goldfinch |
| Carolina Wren | House Finch |
| Other Critters |
| Gray Squirrel |
| Butterflies |
| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail |
| Zebra Swallowtail |
| Eastern Black Swallowtail |
| Orange Sulphur |
| Eastern Comma or Question Mark |
| Mourning Cloak |