week of 4/24/02
 
 
 


The Naturalist's Corner
By Don Hendershot
Don’t mind the glazed eyes, goofy smile and hands cupped behind the ears. It’s just a birder in the throes of spring migration. After their annual winter respite, neotropical migrants are returning to North America by the millions.

Almost every morning for the past couple of weeks I have awakened to the song of a new arrival in my yard. Blue-headed vireos were the first, followed by a brown thrasher, next a northern parula warbler, then a hooded warbler, then a rose-breasted grosbeak and scarlet tanager showed up on the same day and last Friday morning I heard a black-throated blue warbler and returned home in the evening to be serenaded by the flute-like notes of the season’s first wood thrush.

Of course a few winter residents are still lingering. The white-throated sparrows seem to be calling out for their nesting grounds with their sweet, “Oh Canada, Canada, Canada,” trill. Evening grosbeaks have apparently decided to stay and visit with their southern cousins, the rose-breasted grosbeaks.

This is the second time since moving to Haywood County that I have enjoyed this spring time grosbeak double play. I had a large flock of evening grosbeaks overwinter with me during the winter of ‘96-‘97. They also remained to break bread with their relatives from the south. It is a treat to see these golden invaders from the north at the feeder side by side with the handsome rose-breasteds.

Conservation organizations and federal wildlife agencies have capitalized on the energy and enthusiasm generated by the annual return of neotropical migrants to create International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD.) IMBD was created in 1993 as a joint effort between the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Today it is a world wide event celebrated in the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Central America. IMBD is coordinated by the Office of Migratory Bird Management of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with support of Partners in Flight.

PIF, formed in 1990, is a cooperative effort among several federal, state and local government agencies as well as conservation groups, industry, the academic community and private individuals. It is the goal of PIF to focus resources on the improvement of monitoring, inventory, research, management and education programs involving birds and their habitats.

The theme for this year’s IMBD is “A Celebration of Special Places for Birds.” IMBD is officially the second Saturday in May, but IMBD celebrations and events begin at the end of April and continue through the month of May.

A great way to celebrate IMBD and support the Haywood County Arts Council is to join us for “Birding for the Arts” on Saturday, May 4. The all-day field trip will begin at the Performing Arts Center at 9 a.m. An accommodating willow flycatcher has been present at the Performing Arts Center, to see us off each of the last two years.

From the Arts Center we will make a quick pass by Lake Junaluska to see the nesting little green herons, check out the swallows, and note any other species we might encounter. After Junaluska, we will head for the Blue Ridge Parkway where we will spend the day birding a loop from Waynesville along the Parkway to U.S. 276 and back to Waynesville. Hopefully, we will get good looks at the peregrines nesting at Devils Courthouse.

We will bird at a relaxed pace and beginners are encouraged to attend. There will be plenty of birds to keep advanced birders busy, too. We recorded over 70 species last year.

Many in the group have a good grasp of native wildflowers, and there are some burgeoning butterfly watchers. While the focus will be birds, we will stop to smell the flowers.

The cost for “Birding for the Arts” is a $25 tax-deductible donation to the Haywood Arts Council and includes a boxed lunch from Lomo Grill.

For more information call Joe Sam Queen at 828.452.1688.

(Don Hendershot can be reached at don@smokymountainnews.com)