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 […]
This is a year-round bird on the Highlands Plateau. The American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) transforms itself in spring and is gloriously renewed just as the fairy tale sad sister was […]
This bird is sufficiently rarely sighted for a “snipe hunt” to be synonymous with a boondoggle joke played upon the uninitiated and naïve. There are millions of Wilson’s Snipe (Gallinago […]
Some of our winter residents will soon go north. March is a month of change: In like a lion, it is said, and out like a lamb. Winter begins to […]
A udubon’s annual Christmas Bird Count or CBC occurred on Friday, December 14. Check the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society’s website given below for more information. The 2017 CBC involved […]
This bird is close to the human heart, the state bird in seven states. We revere Cardinals and have made them mascots of innumerable sports teams from kindergarten to the […]
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 […]
Owls are steeped in myth and legend. According to Virgil, the appearance of an owl foretold the death of Dido. Both the Sumerian goddess Lilith and Greek goddess Athena have […]
Broad-wing Hawks (Buteo platypterus) are recognizable while soaring by their full wing span and white tail bands. Like hawks generally, they are intelligent and highly adaptive. Their visual acuity, sharpness […]
This large sparrow, the Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), looks more like an American Robin than, say, a House Sparrow, but a member of the sparrow family it is. There are […]
