As we pulled into fall migration, one of the themes of this Big Year has been our amazing ability to miss birds that were reported regularly in a spot. Take our Carolinas trip back in early September.
Reports of Horned Lark, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Virginia Rail, Ruffed Grouse, and all sorts of warblers lured us north to SC and NC during one of my regular visits to Athens. We started at Dobbin's Farm, which you'll remember from this post, and saw nothing new. We went to the stakeout for the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Nope. Surely Jackson Park, a migratory hotspot, would have something to offer. Nada.
And so, we camped up in Pisgah National Forest with nothing new to show for our efforts. But we had high hopes for day two, since we'd be reuniting with Noah Poulos, our friend from Wisconsin, and his fiance, Lyric, to search for birds on their home turf. We decided to meet at Graveyard Fields to look for high elevation birds.
When we got there, a woman had lost her dog and was shouting across the whole area for him. This, of course, disturbed all the birds and we saw nothing in that area. People, this is why you keep your dogs on a leash (especially when numerous signs say so).
The four of us trekked on, reaching a quieter area with dense growths of spruce. Noah heard a call and directed us to a Chestnut-sided Warbler hanging out nearby. Woohoo! Something new! A Black-throated Green Warbler nearby bedazzled us as well and, though it wasn't new, gave us some hope. Dark-eyed Juncos, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and even a Hooded Warbler made an appearance but none of these were new.
Next, we tried Devil's Courthouse where we hoped to finally see a Winter Wren. As per usual, terrible weather conditions (fog in this case) prevented us from seeing much of anything. We decided to head downslope to a waterfall Noah knew. When we arrived, I immediately recognized the falls as one I had jumped off of in my stupider college days. Looking at it with fresh eyed secured my feeling that it was not smart to do that. Heather agreed. A call broke the reminiscing and both Noah and Heather confirmed it as a Black-throated Blue Warbler. Woot! It was a slow day, but we at least had some new migrants to show for our efforts.
We said our goodbyes to Noah and Lyric, two great people we love to spend time with, and Heather and I made the long drive back to Athens. We had to break up the drive somehow, and so we stopped at the Nine Times Preserve, managed by The Nature Conservancy. This preserve apparently has all kinds of cool creatures living within it, and it seemed appealing. The hike was hot, the trail signs weren't well-maintained, but the preserve itself was so pretty. We didn't get anything new, but it was one of those neat discoveries that only happens if you venture off the beaten path.
We got into Athens, so tired, and rested up since we planned to bird early the next morning as well. After some sleep, we awoke and met up with Heather's friend, Zach. If you remember, he was with us when we found the Tropical Kingbird at St. Marks NWR. After struggling to find each other at Lake Herrick, we began birding. Though we saw many cool birds at Lake Herrick, Sandy Creek Nature Center, and the Bostwick Sod Farm...we had nothing new to show for our efforts. This was not our weekend!
Our last stop would be the cattle ponds on Braswell Church Road, southwest of Athens. Here, a birder was set up with a scope. He turned out to be an ornithologist with USFWS, and he knew his shorebirds. He said he had some neat things and so he pointed out what he had as we took turns looking through the scope. Right off the bat, we had a great chance to compare our first Stilt Sandpiper of the year with the other peeps around it. Then, an unusual sandpiper caught the man's eye (I forget his name). He went through the different field characters and came up with Baird's Sandpiper. We saw them in Arizona, but this was a rarity in this part of Georgia and was a cool find to be a part of.
All in all, this weekend was kind of a let down. We expected so, so much more than we saw. The good news is that we saw lots of cool birds either way, some neat salamanders, and connected with good friends. Still, we only get one more shot at Neotropical migrants so hopefully our luck improves!
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