high country hoots - High Country Audubon Society

HIGH COUNTRY HOOTS
High Country Audubon Society - Serving Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Watauga, and Wilkes Counties
Aug-Sept-Oct 2014
Volume 6 Issue 3
President’s Message
By Bob Cherry
Half Full or Half Empty?
Recently I attended Audubon North Carolina’s
Chapter Day with HCAS Board members Martha Cutler and Beverly Saltonstall. Even though we had to
wake up early on a Sunday morning, it was fun to
spend the day with staff from ANC and with representatives from most of the other Audubon chapters
in the state. We exchanged updates on some of the
major projects that each chapter was involved in and
got to hear about ANC’s activities as well.
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Photo by Monty Combs
We heard of how successful the Brown-headed
Nuthatch nest box program has been. And we learned
of the outreach programs that were reaching both parents and children and teaching them about birds and
the natural environment. And of the successful efforts
to help Chimney Swifts by building a new chimney and
protecting existing ones. And of the great strides being
made in making people aware of the importance to
birds of using native landscaping around homes and
how nurseries were helping make these plants available.
But then near the close of the day, ANC Executive
Director Heather Hahn gave a summary of the effects
that climate change will have on our nation’s birds. It
wasn’t good news with some impacts already underway
and many other changes still in store. While some
birds might benefit from the new norm, many would
not. And large numbers have good chances of going
extinct as the temperature and weather events change
significantly.
While Heather was upbeat about what ANC and
National Audubon Society would be doing and how
Audubon members would step up to get politicians to
do something (anything?) that would be helpful, it was
hard not to be pessimistic. It’s a huge battle and one
that has shown few signs of being won. And the stakes
are too high to even want to consider what happens if
we don’t win this battle.
But then I thought of the earlier presentations by each
of the chapters. Of the positive actions that people are
taking on a wide range of issues that will benefit our
birds. How local chapters are making a difference and
how hard Audubon members are working to help birds
in their local areas and on regional and national levels.
So while it will be a difficult and long fight I think
we’re up to it. Audubon members have shown in the
past that they were willing to help push through landmark environmental legislation in spite of long odds
against them. And I think we’re up for this battle as
well. Too much is at stake not to get involved and try
to make a difference.
In the near future you will be asked to help out as
we fight to protect our birds and the habitat that they
need to survive. Please take some time to make phone
calls, write letters, attend rallies or any other activity
that fits into your already busy lives. Let others know
that working to prevent climate change is important to
you and to our birds. It will make a difference!
Come Learn With Us
HCAS Programs Chair, Martha Cutler, has planned
a variety of programs for the next three months. Our
monthly meetings are open to the public and are held
on the third Tuesday of each month (April through October) at 6:30 pm at the Holiday Inn Express in Boone.
Tuesday, Aug. 19: Riparian Enhancement
Wendy Patoprsty is the Extension Agent for Natural Resources and Environmental Education in Watauga
County and also coordinates the Kids in the Creek Program for 4th graders in the county and
the annual Big Sweep river cleanup of
High Country streams. Wendy returns for what will definitely be an
informative and entertaining evening.
You will learn about adjacent
riverbank stabilization, floodplains,
healthy riparian vegetation vs. invasive
plants, and aquatic life and birds in
these habitats. She’ll be discussing projects in the High
Country, especially the Valle Crucis project.
Tuesday, Sep. 16: Salamanders
Worth Pugh, Laboratory
Manager and Adjunct Instructor at
Appalachian State University, will
teach us about salamander ecology, diversity, and conservation.
He’ll review the research being
done in the lab, discuss general
conservation issues and concerns of salamanders, and
give tips for identification of salamanders, including photos. Worth is a Master of Science graduate of ASU and
studied how habitat and landscape influence the demographics and larval recruitment of hellbender salamanders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) in the Watauga
River drainage. He also helped the lab begin a long-term
study of the reproductive behaviors and life-history evolution of spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum).
Tuesday, Oct. 21: Getting By With a Little Help
from Their Friends? Pollinators and Pollination.
Dr. Jennifer Geib, Assistant Professor in the ASU Department of Biology,
will investigate relationships between
plants and their pollinator partners. Jennifer is also the Undergraduate Coordinator for Secondary Biology Education.
She does research and teaches courses
in both ecology and science teacher education. Jennifer
earned a Ph.D. in 2010 from the University of Missouri.
Swifts Night Out
By Betsy Wauters
Chimney swifts are residents in the Carolinas from early April through September. They generally start building
their nests in May. Both sexes help build the nest by breaking off dead twigs, fastening them together with their saliva,
and then fastening them to the insides of chimneys or large
hollow logs. They lay 3-6 white eggs mid-June. Unlike most
songbirds, incubation requires 18 days. Both adults incubate
and care for the young, which stay in or near the nest for 24
days or longer. The babies brace their short tails against the
vertical walls and exercise their wings until ready to emerge.
After nesting season, they start flocking together and a
thousand or more may roost in a single large chimney.
There are numerous chimneys here in the High Country
which attract the flocks of chimney swifts. One of these is
at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk.
HCAS gathers at Lees-McRae to watch this amazing
circling of “flying cigars” as they fly in and eventually descend
into a chimney on the roof of one of the dormitories. We
also hope to have a special treat for you this year: Nina
Fischesser, Director of the Blue Ridge Wildlife Institute at
Lees-McRae College, will be on hand to release some chimney swifts if they are at a suitable age.
We will meet at the college on September 9th around
6:30 -7:30 pm. Bring a chair and picnic supper if you want,
or just come and enjoy the show at sundown! Rain date is
Thursday, September 11.
Chimney Swifts gathering at Lees-McRae College
in Banner Elk.
Photo by Monty Combs
Hiking and Burrowing with the TIP Kids
by Janet Palmer and Beverly Saltonstall
On Friday, June 20, Janet Paulette and I (Janet Palmer) led a
birds and wildflowers walk for sixteen 7th and 8th graders as part
of their “Science on the Appalachian Trail” class, part of the
Duke University Talent Identification Program. We met the
group before 10 a.m. in the Trout Lake parking lot and walked a
short route along the lake and then the two miles up the wooded switchbacks to the pasture, returning the short way down
the lane that comes out on Shulls Mill Road.
We heard more birds than we saw, of course, but we did
get looks at black-throated blue and chestnut-sided warblers as
well as a very cooperative junco and two different yellow-bellied
sapsuckers! Veeries serenaded us consistently, and I’m confident all of them will now recognize that call. When a titmouse
was calling nearby, I played the call for them and asked if any of
them had heard it before. One girl said she heard that all the
time at home.
Wildlife wasn’t all they enjoyed there—dogs on the trail
were always petted and admired. When I asked Sam (a boy
whose favorite bird is
the indigo bunting) if
he had a dog at home,
he told me lots about
his dog and then volunteered, “In fact, I miss
my dog more than my
parents.” That was my
Photo by Janet Palmer
quote for the day!
Janet Paulette started them thinking about what their own
“banders code” four letters would be—fun idea! They were
excited to get the backyard birds poster from Janet at the end
of the hike, too. The group’s good-natured energy made for a
fun morning despite doing more wildflower than bird identifications.
The following week I (Beverly Saltonstall) gave a talk to the
same group of students about the Burrowing Owls of Cape
Coral, Florida. True to what I was told about these kids, they
were energetic and full of questions. Armed with lots of fun
photographs of the owls, it wasn’t difficult holding their attention for well over an hour. These kids are our hope for the future and it was heart warming to know they are very interested
in preserving our wildlife and our planet.
Fall Migration Trips
by Martha Cutler
For all of these field trips, bring a blanket or folding
chair, drinks, snacks or even a picnic, as well as your
binoculars. Be advised there are no restrooms near
these overlooks.
As the date of a field trip approaches, please check
the group email on Yahoo or the calendar at
www.HighCountryAudubon.org for updates and other
details including meeting times and places.

Sept. TBA: Mahogany Rock, Blue Ridge Parkway, milepost 235, Alleghany County
See migrating broad-winged hawks – and monarch
butterflies! - plus the possible spotting of osprey, bald
eagles, golden eagles, American kestrels, merlins, peregrine falcons, Cooper’s hawks, and sharp-shinned hawks.
The most commonly-observed raptor is the broadwinged hawk, but if the weather conditions are favorable
we may be able to see large kettles of migrating birds.
The date and back-up date for this trip have not yet
been set, but should be sometime around the 3rd week
of September. See NC Birding Trail, Mountain Guide, p.
16 or click here: http://ncbirdingtrail.org/sites/2012/8/1/
mahogany-rock.html

Thurs. Sept. 18: Ridge Junction, Blue Ridge
Parkway, milepost 355, 25 miles south of
Spruce Pine,
Leader: Lori Owenby
The Ridge Junction Overlook acts as a funnel during
fall migration, and on good days, you might see thousands of birds flying past. If you’re lucky, some will be
closer and easier to identify as they forage in the areas
around the overlook – maybe Blackburnian, Canada,
black-throated blue, black-throated green warblers; red
crossbills, pine siskins, and common ravens.
The drive to Ridge Junction will take about 2 hours
from the New Market area of Boone or about 1½ hours
from the Lowes Food at Tynecastle. See NC Birding
Trail, Mountain Guide, p. 67 or click here http://
ncbirdingtrail.org/sites/2012/8/1/ridge -junctionoverlook.html

Sat. Sep. 20: Ridge Junction, Blue Ridge Parkway, milepost 355, 25 miles south of Spruce
Pine,
Leader: Bob Cherry. (See above for details)
Fun Cool Birds This Season
Article and photos by Guy McGrane (“Badger”)
I can’t seem to get the theme song to the old TV
program “The Muppet Show” out of my head these
days. Do you remember the tune starting “It’s time to
Meet the Muppets”? Well, for some reason those first
few notes were copied very nicely by a Song Sparrow
nesting right outside my front door this year. The variety in the songs of this one very common species is
really fun and cool. So now it’s time to meet, or remember, some fun cool birds that made appearances in
our local area this spring.
The waterfowl at W. Kerr Scott Dam and Reservoir this year were
nice as usual. LeadRed-necked Grebe
ing the way was a
large flock of Rednecked
Grebes,
probably almost 20,
that came south as
part of a wave of
birds evidently fleeing the solid ice of
a very cold winter
in the Great Lakes region. This was a personal life bird
for me, and they seem to have been last seen in our
area quite a few years ago. They stayed for a few
months allowing great looks. Also present on and off
was a small number of Common Mergansers that often
hung out with a larger number of Red-breasted Mergansers, two hens of which straggled in very late, even
into June, near the visitor center. It was a nice contrast
seeing the males of the two species right next to each
other, and being able to note the extensive clear white
on the sides of the Commons, which are not actually all
that common, in this region anyway. On March 19, a
breeding-plumage Horned Grebe posed while eating a
Crayfish.
At the YMCA’s Wilkes County facility, Camp Harrison, which has a lake built ca. 2004, many nice waterfowl also showed up and the lake is really attracting
some interesting birds. For example, a Bald Eagle nest
attempt was
evidently uns u c c e s s f u l , Redhead
perhaps because it was
started very
late in the
season, but it
will be fun to
see if they try
again
next
year. As far
as the waterfowl, a good flock of Long-tailed Ducks, formerly
known as Oldsquaw, spent a few months and were accompanied by a large flock, maybe 50, of Ruddy Ducks and an equal
number of Bufflehead. Harder to find, but present for at least
a few weeks, were a pair of Common Goldeneye females,
which tried to blend in with the other diving ducks, but were
betrayed by their gleaming yellow eyes and warm reddishcolored heads. A few Redheads seemed to be shuttling between the Camp Harrison lake, Kerr Scott, and Wilkes Community College pond, where the one in the photo was seen.
At Price Lake on the parkway, it was nice to see a migrating flock of five American Wigeons settle down for a rest
on March 22. And it was cool to see a Ross’s Goose hanging
out with some Canada Geese at the pond across the river
from the Meat Camp Environmental Study Area.
Now for some land birds. It was great to see a goodsized flock of Bobolinks near Mt. Vernon Church again this
year and to hear their tinkling squeaks. This one perched
right over my head near the little cemetery on Bamboo Road
across from the church. A large colony of Cliff Swallows was
nesting under the Wilkesboro Blvd. Bridge over the Yadkin
River in the WilkesBobolink
boros, and some
nearby nests of Barn
Swallows made a
nice study of the
contrast in nest
styles. The Barn
Swallow nests are
right-side-up but the
Cliff Swallow nests are upside-down. Looks like Cliffies nests
must be much harder to build but also might be harder for
raiders like coons and snakes to get at.
One last note, it was a warbler fest on June 7 at the Marley Ford area at Kerr Scott, with 9 different species seen in a
few hours, including Louisiana Waterthrush, Northern Parula,
Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Ovenbird, and
Prairie, Yellow-throated, Hooded, and Kentucky Warblers. It
was fun and very cool seeing all these species within about half
a mile of each other. One thing about these tree-based small
birds is it’s so tough to get their pictures!
Now for two pitches--if you have any fun, cool bird sightings to include in the next newsletter, please email me at
Badgerboy@wilkes.net, and I’ll be sure to mention them, and
do include a picture if you have one. Lastly, it’s never too early to plead for help on the Christmas Bird Counts, and since I
organize the Stone Mountain Count, I know how much we
need volunteers! All skill levels are needed as we have a lot of
area that is not covered at all. Email me at the above address
for details or call 336/981-5480.
HCAS’s eBird Big Year
By Bob Cherry
We’ve talked on the list serve and even had a program
at one of our monthly meetings encouraging chapter members to use eBird to record birding trips and observations.
And I’m sure you’ve all heard of a Big Year (they even made
a movie about it in 2011) in which a birder tries to find as
many bird species as he or she can in one calendar year.
Well, HCAS has decided to combine the two and let eBird
help us record a Big Year for the chapter in 2015. And we’d
like all of you to join us!
eBird (www.ebird.org) is an online checklist website
that was started in 2002 by National Audubon Society and
Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Its website claims that they
have “revolutionized the way that the birding community
reports and accesses information about birds.” And they
really have done just that. With records from around the
world, including dozens of locations in North Carolina, they
have a database of bird observations that is amazing in
scope. In just March 2012 alone they received 3.1 million
bird observations from across North America!
HCAS has encouraged its members to use eBird to
report sightings using eBird trip reports. These data are
then made available to birders around the world who want
to study bird populations in the High Country of North
Carolina, whether as part of a research study, as planning
for an upcoming vacation, or just to help decide where to
go for a day of birding.
But now we want to try something different. As an
added incentive to use eBird to record your trip’s observa-
tions, we’re going to compile a list of birds seen by our chapter’s members month-by-month and for the entire year.
We’re going after a Big Year for High Country Audubon Society!
But we need your help to do this. After you’ve submitted your trip report to eBird we are asking you to share it
with us at HCASeBird@gmail.com. We will then take all of
the reports that we receive and print out a detailed list each
month. The list will include the birds that have been seen,
how many individual birds were seen of each species each
month, and how many birds and species were seen for the
year since January 1.
We’re still trying to figure out how hard it will be to do
lists each month for the High Country, for North Carolina,
for the entire US and for the entire world (we’re a wide ranging bunch of birders!). Our plan, at least for now, is to do
reports for each of these geographic areas at the start of each
month.
We’ll be practicing for the rest of 2014, so please start
to share your lists as you create them. This will give us a few
months to work out any kinks and for all of us to get in the
habit of using eBird. Then on January 1, 2015, we’ll start our
official Big Year effort.
We hope you’ll join us for this exciting new venture.
Not only will it help eBird become an even better resource
for all birders, but it will also be fun as we watch our lists
grow through the year. And by December 31 you can all tell
everyone that you were part of HCAS’s Big Year.
Sue Wells Research Grant 2014
By Bob Cherry
While birders enjoy seeing songbirds fluttering through
the trees, there’s something about raptors soaring overhead
that really gets birders excited. Adding a rugged cliff face to
the scene makes it even more majestic.
HCAS’s 2014 Sue Wells Research Grant recipient is
taking a close look at how these birds use these cliff faces,
not as pretty backdrops, but as places to nest and raise their
young. Angie Langevin, a graduate student at Appalachian
State University, was recently selected for this $500 award
to help her with costs associated with her research.
In her grant applications, Angie stated that her research,
“directly studies the interactions of the Western North Carolina cliff-nesting avian community with the cliff-face ecosystem they inhabit…This study is unique; no other project has
attempted to document the potential link between cliffnesting birds and cliff-face plant and lichen communities.”
The Sue Wells Research Grant was created by HCAS in
2012 to support high school or college students doing research or field work in ornithology or in an area of study
that will directly benefit birds or bird
habitat in this area of North Carolina.
The late Sue Wells was a driving force
in the creation of High Country Audubon Society and served on the Board of Angie Langevin
Trustees until 2010.
In 2012 we awarded the inaugural grant to Jessica
Krippel of Western Carolina University to support her
work examining reproductive strategies of Song Sparrows.
Last year Morgan Harris, a graduate student at Appalachian
State University, was selected to help him examine competition and reproduction of Eastern Bluebirds.
Even before being awarded the Sue Wells Research
Grant, HCAS members helped Angie with her work by
sharing the location of a raven’s nest on Snake Mountain.
We hope to continue helping her as she studies these incredible birds that are such an important part of the avian
community in Western North Carolina. Congratulations
Angie and good luck with your research.
Migration Birding in Ohio
Article and Photos by Sheryl McNair
A friend asked us recently if we had a trip planned.
Yes, we said, we're going to Toledo in May. "Spain?"
"No, Ohio." "What's in Ohio?" ...ah, what is in Toledo,
Ohio in May? Toledo sits on the shores of Lake Erie,
and, luckily for us, many people have recognized the
importance of setting aside land there. So, there are
many venues to look for and watch migratory birds.
These include the Maumee Bay State Park, the Cedar
Point National Wildlife Refuge, the Ottawa National
Wildlife Refuge, the Peterson Metropark, and Magee
Marsh Wildlife Area--on the south shore of Lake Erie.
There are also islands, such as Kelleys Island State Park
(where Kirtland's Warblers were sighted while we were
in the Toledo area) that can be visited, and the north
shore (the Canadian side) is also famous for migratory
bird viewing. However, we had limited time, and didn't
venture beyond the south shore. (Not even to Kelleys
Island!!)
Because of our personal schedule, we arrived on
the last week (May 13-16) of the two weeks of the
"Biggest Week in Birding Festival" (?!—okay, it’s not 2
weeks, it ran May 5-16, but that includes 2 sets of MonFri weeks). That was okay with us, because we had
heard that there could be crowds of birders, and we
were happy to avoid crowds as much as possible.
Prothonotary Warbler
We reviewed the Magee Marsh website
(www.mageemarsh.org), which has practically everything you need to know about visiting Magee Marsh and
environs. We learned that while you could stay in the
nearby town of Oak Harbor, there were probably more
hotels and restaurant opportunities in Toledo, and the
drive time would be about the same. So, we stayed in
Toledo, very near an interstate, and had a quick trip out of
town.
When we arrived in the area (driving from a visit to
our son, in New York), it was almost 2 p.m. We needed
lunch, and Blackberry Corner had been recommended, so
we stopped there. They really pile on the toppings on
their pizzas, so lunch was quite hearty. Good thing, because once we got to Magee Marsh, we couldn't tear ourselves away, despite two thunderstorms (brief respite in
the car) until 8:30
p.m. When we first
arrived, I excitedly
pointed out the “Rednecked Swans” to my
husband for a picture.
I learned later that
they were Trumpeter
Swans, and their
necks were red from
the red mud!
Trumpeter Swan
During our five hours at Magee, we saw 63 species of
birds, and 11 were new for my life list, including Henslow's
Sparrow, Mourning, Blackpoll, Cape May and Bay-breasted
Warblers (and not including “Red-Necked Swans”!).
Not only were there great birds to see, but they were
right overhead, or on the railing or otherwise close. The
boardwalk is about a mile long, but it took us a long time
to traverse it--so many places to stop and listen and look.
We saw two Screech Owls peering down at us from one
tree, and a Common Nighthawk sitting in another. Mean-
while, Yellow Warblers were constantly singing, and RedWinged Blackbirds were all over. The thrushes were confusing to me--I'm used to seeing either Wood Thrushes or
Hermit Thrushes, but not both at the same time. There
we saw Veeries and Wood, Swainson's, and Grey-cheeked
Thrushes--but of course they weren't cooperative enough
to pose next to each other! There were also lots of oranges on sticks--perhaps that explains all the Baltimore
Orioles and Scarlet Tanagers we saw.
(continued on next page)
The next day, it could have been a 30-minute drive
to Magee Marsh, possibly shorter, but not for us. How
could we pass up the opportunity to check out nearby
Peterson Metropark, where a Red-Necked Phalarope
had been sighted? Despite the tall trees, and the highway noise, that was one of our best trips--because we
had a great close up view of a Red-necked Phalarope,
and it was quite happy swimming around a small pool
while about 15 of us snapped photo after photo.
Red-necked Phalarope
The only place we visited that could actually be called
crowded (besides the restaurants) was Magee Marsh. And
there, people were usually pretty good at making room for
new viewers, and trading information on identification, and
bird-sightings. There were only a few times that someone
ignored us and walked in front of a camera shot or our
binoculars. In many areas of the boardwalk, we were the
only viewers--and there was plenty to view.
We had generally lousy weather (rain, clouds, wind)
until our departure day. Of course, that day was absolutely gorgeous, and we couldn't pull ourselves away from the
area until after 1:00 p.m. Despite the weather, we saw so
many sightings of warblers (oh, another Magnolia! yes,
that's a female Redstart) and other birds that it was a fabulous trip. My only regret is that I didn't realize that Cerulean Warblers migrate earlier, and although I saw some
tweets about Cerulean sightings (and Golden-winged Warblers), we weren't able to see/hear any.
Then, we had to stop at Maumee Bay State Park.
While we didn't find anything unusual (although Whitewinged Doves had reportedly been seen), we enjoyed
the walk out on the boardwalk, despite a rather relentless rain. The next stop was Ottawa Wildlife Refuge,
because various shorebirds had been reported in the
outer fields. And, yes, there were some Black-bellied
Plovers out in the fields--looking good in breeding plumage. There may have been some other neat birds there,
but we weren't quick enough to follow the tweets (on
Twitter), and had to make do without rarities.
By now, it's lunch time, so we didn't make it to
Magee until 1:30, and then we stopped at the Black
Swamp Bird Observatory first, so it was a while later
before we reached the Magee Marsh boardwalk.
Once again, we were not disappointed, and we
spent another 3 hours enjoying the variety of birds, and
seeing our first Olive-sided Flycatcher, and tons of warblers.
The next day, we added Ottawa NWR and Metzger
Marsh Wildlife Area to our list of must-dos. Ottawa has
several ponds, so we had plenty of ducks and egrets
(and some Sandhill Cranes--misidentified originally by
me as Great Blue Herons, until I took a second look!)
We were also able to see Least Sandpipers, Solitary, and Pectoral Sandpipers (another first for me).
Blackburnian Warbler
Addendum: We did not register for the festival, or attend
any of the events; despite the bad weather, we could never
pull ourselves away. Possibly if we'd had more time...For
those desirous of this experience, next year’s festival will
run May 8-17, and the website for the festival information
is:
http://biggestweekinamericanbirding.com/
Jesse Pope Goes to Peru !
By Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation
HCAS’s own Jesse Pope has been on an amazing
adventure in Peru. Hopefully, we’ll get to hear all about
it from him in the future, but here’s the press release
put out by the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation before the trip.
GRANDFATHER MTN. NATURALIST JOINS
PERU RESEARCH VENTURE
By GRANDFATHER MTN | Published: JULY 7, 2014
Jesse Pope, director of education and natural resources for Grandfather Mountain, will travel to Peru
for two weeks this month as part of a research project
conducted by Appalachian State University.
The project, led
by ASU assistant geography professor
Baker Perry, will
study weather patterns in the Andes
Mountains and is bolstered by a five-year,
$494,000 grant from
the National Science Foundation.
The group will install new precipitation monitoring
equipment at the Quelccaya Ice Cap outside Cusco, Peru, and at Chacaltaya, a mountain peak outside La Paz,
Bolivia, at the site of a glacier that disappeared in 2009.
The research project is intended to expand knowledge
about the area and the timing, intensity and type of precipitation there.
“This is a chance of a lifetime to see firsthand the
impacts of climate change on these high-altitude environments,” Pope said. “Having a better understanding of
Earth’s systems allows us to be more effective communicators of our natural world at Grandfather Mountain.”
In addition to setting up the new monitoring equipment, the project will involve launching weather balloons to collect data during precipitation events and
training local residents to make precipitation observations.
A Watauga County teacher and a Grandfather
Mountain employee will accompany Perry in the first,
third and fifth years of the grant to assist with his work
in South America. Appalachian State University students
also will contribute through a study abroad program this
July and in future years. Pope and 2012-13 N.C. Teacher
of the Year Darcy Grimes are among those who will
travel south this year.
While the project will contribute significantly to scientific
understanding of the Andes region, it will also be a boon to
future visitors at Grandfather Mountain.
Grandfather Mountain plans to enhance its climate exhibit in
the Nature Museum to include up-to-the-minute weather data
from the equipment installed in the Andes. Visitors will be able
to compare the weather atop 5,946-foot Grandfather Mountain and the 18,000-foot South American peaks.
Visit Facebook.com/GrandfatherMtn between July 16-30
to see occasional updates from Pope’s trip.
The not-for-profit Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation
strives to inspire conservation of the natural world by helping guests
explore, understand and value the wonders of Grandfather Mountain.
We Appreciate Our Sponsors!
Risky Roads
Notes of Interest
By Bob Cherry
Frequently at work one of my co-workers will bring me a
bird that was found dead on the Parkway. This happens way
too often and, more times than not, it seems to be an owl that
was probably swooping down on a mouse and was not aware
of the car barreling down on it. Unfortunately this isn’t limited
to the Parkway but occurs on all of our nation’s roads.

Be sure to pick up the new brochure Native Plants for
Birds, Mountain from Audubon North Carolina.
HCAS, represented by Doris Ratchford, partnered
with the NC Audubon Bird Friendly Communities
Program to help create the brochure.
http://
nc.audubon.org/creating-bird-friendly-communities-2
Use it yourself and get extra copies to pass on to
nurseries and landscapers. We’ll have them available
at HCAS monthly meetings, but click here to see the
brochure:
http://nc.audubon.org/sites/default/files/
documents/native_plant_brochure__mountain_region.pdf
Native plant guides for other regions of North
Carolina may be downloaded at:
http://nc.audubon.org/bird-friendly-plants

Congratulations to HCAS’s Monty Combs who was
the Grand Prize winner in the Blue Ridge Parkway
Calendar photo competition and who will have his
winning photo on the cover of the 2015 calendar!

Have you got Yahoo problems? Jesse Pope has offered his services to help you work through any issues
with Yahoo. Just email him at highcountrybirder@yahoo.com
(although you might wait a bit for
him to recover from his trip to Peru!).

You might want to check out “Birdsnap”, a new free
iPhone app released in May by researchers from Columbia University and the University of Maryland. Its
purpose is to help amateur birdwatchers identify species by processing snapshots and providing possible
identifications.
Read more at http://
www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/living/innovativetechnology-gives-birdwatching-boost
In a review of 13 studies conducted by other researchers,
Scott Loss, Tom Will and Peter Marra have come up with
what is probably the most accurate estimate of the number of
birds that are killed by vehicles in the United States every
year. Their results estimate a staggering 89 to 340 million
birds are killed every year due to collisions with vehicles. The
high uncertainty in the estimate is due to carcasses being carried off by scavengers and the difficulty in finding small birds
that are thrown into roadside vegetation.
While this is a huge number, it is only third in the list of
human-related bird deaths in the US. Recently it was reported
that cats kill between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds each year in the
US, and that window strikes kill an additional 400 million to 1
billion birds. Lower on the list is 100 million birds killed by
hunters and up to 500 thousand birds killed by our nation’s
wind turbines.
Perhaps the most disturbing part of the study dealt with
the loss of Barn Owls. Unlike other owls that hunt from
perches, Barn Owls hunt on the wing. At one 150-mile section
of highway in Idaho, the study estimates up to 1,500 owls are
killed each year. On another stretch of road, a researcher
found 100 dead Barn Owls in a single day.
While the number of birds killed by vehicles is not a huge
percentage of birds in the US, it’s another hazard that birds
have to face in their efforts to live another day. And it’s
enough of a reason for birders to slow down a little while
driving on our nation’s roads.
Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!

Thank you to Brenda and Monty Combs for donating to
HCAS a 24” X 36” wall poster of Sibley’s Backyard Birds
of Eastern North America. The poster is in a frame, and
we plan to display it at festivals and other HCAS events
and use it as a teaching tool. The smaller version of the
poster has been a popular hand-out.

Please welcome and thank new members Ellen Aeschleman and Carol Neill who both joined HCAS in May and
Marc Barth and Kim Barley who both joined in July.
We appreciate their support of HCAS as well as the support of renewing members!

A big thanks to all those who have contributed articles and photos to Hoots over the years. Without
you there wouldn’t be a newsletter. We always welcome suggestions for the newsletter, so if you have
some ideas or would like to contribute an article or
photos, please let us know. nest@wildblue.net (Janet
Paulette) Please send your photos directly to Beverly
Saltonstall beverly465@gmail.com. You don’t have to
be a trained writer – just write in conversational language about an Audubon-relevant subject that’s of
interest to you or about an experience you’ve had.
Through Our Lens
This photograph of a Harris’s
hawk was shot in McAllen,
Texas, in June 2014 by Jim
Seiferheld.
Luna moth photo by
Photo of speckled mousebirds
(colius striates kikuyuensis)
taken by Martha Cutler on her
January 2014 trip to Kenya.
Beverly Saltonstall
Photo of a pin-tailed whydah (L) and a red bishop (R)
taken by Ellen Aeschleman in South Africa (2008)
Agitated green heron photo taken by
Don Mullaney on 9-19-13 @ Valle
Crucis Park.
Robin Diaz reported
that last summer a yellow-bellied sapsucker
excavated a cavity right
off of her deck and
successfully fledged
young.
Bay-breasted warbler (above) and a Cape May
warbler photo (below) taken by Sheryl
McNair on her May 2014 trip to Ohio.
PO Box 3746
Boone, NC 28607
www.HighCountryAudubon.org
E-mail: contactus@highcountryaudubon.org
High Country Audubon Society Board of Directors
Bob Cherry - President and Conservation Chair
Jessie Dale- Vice President and Education Chair
High Country Hoots is published four times a year by the High Country
Audubon Society, a chapter of the National Audubon Society. Group
email members receive the newsletter via electronic mail. There is also
access to the newsletter on our website.
Richard Paulette - Treasurer
Editors: Janet Paulette and Beverly Saltonstall.
Martha Cutler - Programs and Field Trips Chair
Brenda Combs - Secretary
Doris Ratchford– Fundraising Chair
Please visit our website for more information about HCAS and
birding in the High Country.
A link on the homepage has instructions for joining our
group email.
www.HighCountryAudubon.org
Janet Paulette - Membership Chair
Sheryl McNair
Janet Palmer
Webmaster: Doris Ratchford
Jesse Pope
Beverly Saltonstall
All events and meeting times are subject to change.
A $5 donation is suggested for field trip participation.
Support Our Birds and High Country Audubon Society!
$10 / year / person
For sponsorship information, please email
Field trips: $5 suggested donation for each field trip you attend
contactus@highcountryaudubon.org.
OR
$25 / year / person
Make your donation online at www.HighCountryAudubon.org
(includes donations for all field trips you attend)
or
Please renew your support by July 31st of each year.
Mail your check, name, address, telephone number, and email
address to:
High Country Audubon Society
HCAS appreciates any additional contributions you
Attention: Membership
make to support our local efforts related to protection
PO Box 3746
of birds, their habitats, and our environment.
Boone, NC 28607
The High Country Audubon Society is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization
Donations to the High Country Audubon Society are tax-deductible as allowed by applicable law.
Donate with PayPal
You can now make donations to HCAS on our website, www.HighCountryAudubon.org, through PayPal.
You do not need a PayPal account to take advantage of this convenient way to donate.
You can donate using a credit card or using your PayPal account. Just go to the Join/Donate tab on the website, and you’ll see four
“Donate” buttons: Annual HCAS Membership; Annual HCAS Membership & Field Trips; Sue Wells Research Grant; and Other.
Choose a button and just follow instructions – it’s that easy!
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
October
August
Each
Wed.
Valle Crucis Community Park Bird
Walk
8:30 am11:00 am
*See note at end of calendar.
19
HCAS monthly meeting
Tues.
Holiday Inn Express, Boone
6:30 pm
Program: Riparian Enhancement
Each
Wed.
Valle Crucis Community Park Bird 8:30 amWalk
11:00 am
*See note at end of calendar.
21
HCAS monthly meeting
Tues.
Holiday Inn Express, Boone
6:30 pm
Program: Getting By with a Little
Help from Their Friends? Pollinators
and Pollination
Presented by: Wendy Patoprsty,
Watauga County Extension Agent
Presented by: Dr. Jennifer Geib,
Assistant Professor of Biology, ASU
September
1
Martha’s Wake
12:00
Mon.
Lost Province Brew Pub, Depot St. Boone
noon
29
Wed.
Valle Crucis Community Park Bird 8:30 am
Walk
Last of the year! *See below.
100th anniversary: death of last passenger pigeon (See article below calendar)
Each
Wed.
Valle Crucis Community Park Bird
Walk
8:30 am11:00 am
*See note at end of calendar.
9
Swifts Night Out
Tues.
Lees-McRae College
~6:30 pm
Leaders: Betsy Wauters, Betsy Murrelle
(rain date: Thurs., Sep. 11)
TBA
Mahogany Rock Hawk Watch
TBA
Mid-September: check group email
16
HCAS monthly meeting
Tues.
Holiday Inn Express, Boone
6:30 pm
Program: Salamanders
Presented by: Worth Pugh, Lab Manager and
Adjunct Instructor, ASU
18
Ridge Junction Fall Migration trip
TBA
Thurs. Blue Ridge Parkway milepost 355
Leader: Lori Owenby
Catawba County Park Ranger
20
Ridge Junction Fall Migration trip
Sat.
Blue Ridge Parkway milepost 355
Leader: Bob Cherry, Wildlife Biologist,
Blue Ridge Parkway
TBA
*Leader of the Valle Crucis Community Park Bird
Walks is Curtis Smalling, Audubon North Carolina. Suggested donation of $5 to Curtis.
To confirm the dates or in case of doubtful
weather, call the Watauga Birding Hotline
828-265-0198 or check :
http://booneweather.com/Life+Outdoors/
Birding
Martha’s Wake
At 1:00 pm on September 1, 1914, Martha, the
last living passenger pigeon, died at the Cincinnati Zoo.
To celebrate the life of Martha (and passenger pigeons
in general), Bettie Bond has organized a wake on Monday, September 1, 2014, at the Lost Province Brewing Company, 130 N. Depot
Street in Boone (the old
High Country Press offices
right behind the Mast General Store).
Wear black (optional!)
and come around noon for a
Dutch treat lunch – and
you’ll even get to learn
more about passenger pigeons from our own Curtis
Smalling of Audubon North
Carolina!