Eleven birders had a pleasant though very frosty bird walk at the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship this morning. We met and spent a few minutes birding the area right around the Visitor Center before heading over to the end of Sawmill Rd on the south side of the preserve.
The highlight of the walk was the several hundred CEDAR WAXWINGS we saw both around the Visitor Center and on the south side of the preserve. We also saw several dif. sparrow species as well as two COMMON RAVENS.
With a heavy frost that left many of us with wet & cold feet we didn’t see a lot of butterflies but there was a Monarch flying south as we started (when it was still 33 degrees) and a few Common Buckeyes as it gradually warmed up.
Joe Coleman
Number of species: 40
Canada Goose, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk (Eastern), Mourning Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted), Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, Blue Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored), Northern Cardinal, House Finch, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow.