The Tree Swallow, a radiant presence in field and sky, is a migratory bird that historically has returned to our area in May. With global warming, it’s becoming an […]
The Carolina Wren, State Bird of South Carolina, produces some of the loudest, most distinct vocalizations in the forest. Its various calls and songs, intoning dozens of phrase patterns, have […]
Winter holds its own special avian delights in and around our local wetlands: lakes, ponds, flooded fields and estuaries. At Mirror Lake in Highlands, for instance, you can often spot […]
This bird is close to the human heart, the state bird in seven states. We revere Cardinals and have made them mascots of many sports teams from grade school to […]
The Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is a native of North America, abundant on the continent when Columbus arrived. According to Lovett Williams, in 1492 the population of this indigenous bird […]
This colorful summer resident of the Highlands Plateau is a member of a large family of colorful songbirds, the warblers. The Yellow-throated Warbler (Setophaga dominica) was first described while wintering […]
The male Indigo Bunting, pictured above, is a radiant hue that is well-described as sapphire blue. They are stunning sights in the summer forest The Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) breeding […]
This bird is plentiful and wide ranging, native to the U.S. Look for it year round in the northeastern U.S. across the continent to the southwest, including Western North Carolina. […]
The Carolina Parakeet has been extinct for over 100 years. This native Carolinian, a subtropical green parrot, was once so numerous that their flocks ranged from New York and Wisconsin […]
Sparrows are specialized seed-eaters that abound in the mountains of Western North Carolina, throughout the Western Hemisphere and worldwide. American Sparrows include scores of species, counting within the family several […]
