This large songbird is similar to the Wood Thrush with a longer tail and lower streaks instead of spots. It is usually seen in the underbrush foraging on the ground […]
Drawn to both seed and suit feeders, this acrobatic climber is often seen upside down on limbs and tree trunks. Their insistent nasal “yammering” makes their sleek black, gray and […]
The Wood Thrush’s loud, flute-clear ee-oh-lay song rings through the Plateau’s forests in summer. This reclusive bird’s cinnamon brown upperparts are good camouflage as it scrabbles for leaf-litter invertebrates deep in […]
The Golden-winged Warbler is a North Carolina Priority Species (nc.audubon.org/golden-winged-warbler) and topic of WCU graduate student Jamie Harrelson’s masters thesis, to which the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society and Highlands Biological […]
Carpenter bees are large, black and yellow bees frequently seen in spring hovering around the eaves of a house or the underside of a deck or porch rail. They are […]
(Lophodytes cucullatus) This distinctive winter resident can be found on wooded ponds where it feeds on fish, crustaceans and insects. The hammerhead crest is mostly white in males and brown […]
This local summer resident is a tree-top dweller that feeds on insects and larvae in mature deciduous forests. Its song is a rapid series of notes similar to the American […]
This large songbird is common on the plateau in the summer and can be seen using its long bill to toss leaves while feeding undercover on insects. It is rufous […]
(Parkesia motacilla) This surprising warbler frequents forest streams during the spring and summer in Appalachia. It sports a white eyebrow, “buffy flanks, and sparse brownish streaking on white underparts.” Its […]
Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) nest with recent hatchlings. Bluebirds hatch after 12 to 14 days of incubation. By 20 days the fledglings have left the nest. Bluebirds are in the […]
