Day 1
I was due for a Heather visit and we decided that, since this visit would occur in the midst of migration, that we better bird as much as possible. Wait...this is no different than our philosophy for any visit.
Either way, the birding began as soon as the visit did! Heather and I met up at a hotspot I had read about recently. It was a sod farm, located in the middle of nowhere Georgia, that was only about a 40 minute drive from Athens, where Heather lives. The Bostwick Sod Farm consists of rolling hills of, you guessed it, sod. It's actually a pretty sight but the cold wind meant that our time there would be limited.
I had seen that birds like upland sandpipers and pectoral sandpipers had been seen there recently. Both would be new and hard to find. We struck out on both but the short visit here was not a complete waste. We added two birds, Barn Swallow and Eastern Kingbird, to our lists. These aren't rare by any stretch of the imagination but any bird added allows us to focus our searches more tightly on other species. In other words, anything helps!
A gorgeous view of a setting sun and rapidly-dropping temperatures motivated us to get to Athens. We needed rest because the following day would be...a lot.
Day 2
We awoke early and, after some coffee, briefly visited the Athens Botanical Gardens. Here, we picked up a pair of Louisiana Waterthrushes hopping around a flooded stream and a Summer Tanager calling from the tree tops. Rain began to fall so we took that as a cue to head northward.
Our goal would be to explore and camp in the North Carolina mountains where we hoped to find our missing migrants, as well as some oddballs that had been reported from various parks around Hendersonville and Asheville. But, first, we wanted to stop at a place where everything from American Golden Plovers to Barn Owls had been reported: Dobbin's Farm.
The Dobbin's Sod Farm consists of an active farm operation in the hilly piedmont of upstate South Carolina. The site was actually quite beautiful. Rolling hills punctuated by brushy corridors with a forested stream backdrop made up most of the view. Old, semi-dilapidated barns with cows grazing in front of them occupied the northern corner of the property. We birded all of it.
Heather and I began by searching some large cavities in an old tree next to the road. A barn owl supposedly can be seen in one of the cavities but, despite our best efforts, we couldn't see it. Oh well. We began to slowly drive and walk the roads that cut through the farm. Our first notable bird was a Field Sparrow, calling incessantly from an early-successional forest near the barn owl tree. We had missed this repeatedly in winter, when you typically get your sparrows, so we were happy to finally mark this one as being seen.
We walked along a gorgeous, lightly-traveled farm road and didn't see a whole lot. Certainly, none of the reported rarities. However, we got quite the surprise when we spotted a falcon flying over the field and ultimately perching in a tree. We thought it looked different than a kestrel and, when we put the scope on it, were correct. It was our first Merlin of the year! This isn't a bird that you can typically go out and "look for", so we were pleased. Plus, we both think that Merlins are awesome birds.
The birding was pretty slow. No Horned Larks, no plovers...just the usual suspects for the most part. A search of the old farm buildings turned up lots of Rock Pigeons with a new bird for us mixed in: Brown-headed Cowbird. This species isn't exactly hard to pick up but, as I tell Heather, every bird we see allows us to refine our focus. They all help!
Another failed attempt at the Barn Owl convinced us that we should make moves towards Hendersonville. Rain was imminent and we wanted to beat it, if at all possible. After reviewing the route, however, it became clear that we would drive right by a preserve that I had heard good things about. We decided to make a slight change of plan to check out the Bunched Arrowhead Preserve to see what we could find.
This South Carolina Heritage Preserve protects a large population of the federally-listed Bunched Arrowhead, an unassuming plant that grows in an interesting piedmont seepage habitat. We saw this plant, its habitat, and not a whole lot in the way of birds. Towards the very end of our walk, we emerged into a recently-burned prairie. Not only did the habitat look nice after the prescribed fire, but a small flash of yellow caught our eye. Over there! Prairie Warbler! We stood and watched this absolutely gorgeous migrant for a few minutes and then decided that we had better get going.
Hendersonville is a town both Heather and I enjoy, and we learned that it had some parks with some pretty unusual birds seen within them. Our first stop was The Park at Flat Rock. Not only did this place have quite possibly the least creative name of any park in North Carolina, but it had the least creative design as well. We were disappointed to see that this park consisted mostly of mowed grass with some scattered trees and ponds. Yet in one of those ponds was, supposedly, a bird that has been eluding me for years.
Reports over the past several months have shown that a Virginia Rail has not only been hanging out in a cattail-dominated pond within The Park at Flat Rock, but that it's been showing itself! Most birders get this species by call but, being a rail-obsessed person, I want to see one. I thought that this would be our chance. We circled the pond twice, played Virginia Rail calls, and even checked out other, nearby ponds. Nothing, although we did get our first Green Heron of the year during one of these pond circuits. The rain began to fall and we were on our way, semi-dejected from our failure.
Our next stop was Jackson Park. This large park on the northern side of Hendersonville is well-known for the number of both migrant and resident bird species it houses each year. We saw virtually nothing on our visit. The rain began to pour on us very heavily, the majority of the park was underwater from the nearby French Broad River flooding, and most of what was accessible didn't seem like very good bird habitat. Sigh. Off to the next place.
And...the next place was underwater too. We drove up to the parking lot of a park whose name escapes me where some warblers and Cooper's Hawk had been reported. You couldn't even pull in the drive way...it was that flooded.
We only had one more spot on our list before we planned to set-up the tent. This was to be a place where so many unusual shorebirds, Horned Larks, and other random-seeming-but-needed birds had appeared in recent days. The site lay only a couple miles away and, after our terrible luck on this day, we had hope that this site would be different.
Well, it wasn't that different. Hooper Lane basically consists of a series of low-lying fields along the French Broad River. The site attracts birds due to its waterways, its propensity to collect standing floodwaters, and its proximity to America's second-oldest river. Unfortunately, you couldn't even drive down more than half the road due to extreme flooding. Even still, two parked cars told us that at least some birds must be present so we drove down a bit and scanned.
Thank goodness we decided to look. We didn't see anything super crazy, but did get an incredible look at our first Great Yellowlegs of the year. Anyone familiar with that species knows how hard it can be to differentiate between them and Lesser Yellowlegs, so to see one close enough to clearly separate it out as a species was one piece of good luck in an otherwise luckless day.
The sun started to descend and rain seemed imminent. It was time to set up camp. We headed up to Pisgah National Forest, set up camp, and promptly took a nap. When we woke up, the sun had just set and we decided that we weren't quite done with birding for the day. We drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, hoping to hear, or even see, a Northern Saw-Whet Owl in one of the high elevation parking areas. But nope! The Parkway was gated off and you couldn't drive more than a quarter mile in either direction from where we accessed it. Determined to at least try, we parked our cars and decided to hike.
Hiking in the dark on a high elevation trail in the mountains was exhilarating and eerie. Heather, of course, stumbled a number of times (I love you!!!) but the hike was otherwise uneventful. We heard no owls despite numerous attempts to play their calls and saw almost no other birds. Still, it was worth trying and it's a strangely memorable hike for me.
There was little of the day left to experience more bad luck and scattered rain told us that we should cut our losses. We went into Asheville, conveniently not far from our camp spot, and enjoyed some truly delicious beers at The Thirsty Monk. They had a downstairs bar with a really cool atmosphere, and we were able to simply decompress after a long day. I highly recommend their Screaming Monk IPA. Mmm.
After our needed brewery visit, we drove back up to our mountain abode, curled up in the tent, and just waited for better birding luck tomorrow.
Day 3
Heather and I had a great nights' sleep and felt totally refreshed (rare for us) early in the morning. We drove down into Asheville and walked around the Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary. I don't know what I expected for a bird sanctuary located in a ritzy part of Asheville, but there wasn't much to this place. We walked around a manicured park that surrounded a pond, hoping for something interesting. One unusual sighting was of two Brown-headed Nuthatches that were occupying an old snag along the pond. Seeing a pine-adapted species like this in a manicured park within a mountain valley was odd to say the least. A Merlin flew over, providing some additional excitement. However, we recorded nothing new there.
I decided to take us up to the Blue Ridge Parkway via a scenic route, past some of the nicest homes in Western North Carolina. We drove for about 40 minutes until we reached the Parkway, commenting on the nice homes and the clear ignorance of the threat fire posed to these properties. Our excitement upon reaching the Parkway was quickly met with dejection. Closed and gated, yet again. Our only option was to turn around and descend back down the mountain. The fact that the National Park Service didn't post any signs or information about these closures still frustrates me as I write this. More bad luck.
So much for all of the high elevation species. But I had wanted to visit our next destination for a long time so we still had hope as we headed there on twisty mountain roads. Our route took us through a part of Pisgah National Forest that I had never visited before. Clearly, not a lot of other people went this way either. The only other car we saw was at the end of the road in a snow-covered parking area for a ridge-top trail. We got out to see and feel the snow, then turned around to head to our birding locale.
The spot was a federal research area called Walker Cove. The area preserved one of the most intact old growth forests left in the region. Enormous maple trees cloaked the hillside and the ground was covered in wildflowers. This was a special place.
We immediately began to hear birds upon stepping out of the car. We first noticed a strange call coming from high in the trees. Heather played a few calls until we determined the source: our lifer Cerulean Warblers! They were flittering around at the very top of very tall trees, so we didn't expect good views. However, we hiked up the hillside, circled a number of trees, and tried our hardest to see the birds. Heather ultimately got a glimpse and I got one right before we left. They are spectacular birds and it's such a shame that they continue to decline.
Heather and I heard another bird calling and this was one that Heather recognized immediately. It was our first Black-throated Green Warbler of the year! They are one of my favorite warbler species...absolutely gorgeous birds that seem to permit a few good looks each time you encounter one before they leave you in the dust. We then split, with Heather walking further down the road while I checked out a seepage that looked excellent for salamanders. I should have gone with Heather. I found practically nothing while she got a great look at a Blackburnian Warbler, one of the prettiest birds in the United States. Since I didn't see it, we couldn't count it.
We headed on down the mountain after we were thoroughly serenaded by all of the birds around us. I felt like I was standing in the Appalachians two hundred years ago in that moment. It's nice that there are still places where you can feel that way in 2019.
One last stop before Athens, we decided. This would be the Ashmore Heritage Preserve in South Carolina, a place I had been to many times when I worked at a camp just up the road. The preserve hosted a rare species of pitcher plant and, we hoped, some new birds. We didn't get any new birds but we were able to see the pitcher plants and en route to the preserve, stopped at my secret spot for Green Salamanders, an extremely rare but beautiful member of South Carolina's fauna.
Just writing this has me tired. We sure do pack it in. We stopped at the Sandy Creek Nature Center once we got back to Athens for one last ditch effort to see some warblers. This short excursion (through yet another flooded area, I might add) did pay off. We had an excellent look at our first Hooded Warbler of the year to cap off a trip that did not meet our expectations in terms of bird sightings, but was a fantastic time nevertheless.
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