Get out and say goodbye
At last! I finally had a birding outing planned last Saturday – the first one since April when I helped lead a trip for the Wildflower Pilgrimage. But, the primary guiding force of my life happens to be Murphy’s Law.
My friend Bob Olthoff made it to my house at 6:30 a.m. sharp and we struck out for Ridge Junction Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway at the entrance to Mt. Mitchell State Park. Ridge Junction is a unique fall migrant trap where you can just hang at the overlook and migrants come up the valley from Mt. Mitchell. Many stop momentarily at the Parkway. But about a mile or two past the Folk Art Center, we encountered a huge oak Mr. Murphy had placed across the BRP.
OK, Ridge Junction was out of the picture, but what the heck? We were on the Parkway and it was still early so we decided to drive the Parkway back south to Waynesville and see what we could find. The one thing easy to find — and lots of it — was fog.
Heavy fog, overcast skies and blowing clouds are not ideal conditions for migration. And birds were, for the most part still and quiet. But even when birds are hard to come by, there’s something to be said for being out on the Parkway. Maybe it’s the juxtaposition of sliding out deep fog as you round a curve to find yourself looking at blue sky with green mountain peaks protruding through a blanket of dingy white only to be swallowed by the fog again around the next curve.
Or, maybe it’s screeching to a stop around one of those curves to check out a silhouette on top of a dead snag and being rewarded with an olive-sided flycatcher. Or getting great up-close views of your FOS (first of the season) fall-plumaged bay-breasted warbler, or perhaps the silent, foggy flyby of a Cooper’s hawk. Not to mention the stands of flowering grass-of-Parnassus along with gentian and turtle’s head on the large seepage area at Wolf Mountain Overlook. Oh, and don’t forget the butterflies — American lady, great spangled fritillary, buckeye and others.
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And with fall migration really settling in I thought I would share some directions and locations for great fall birding:
• Caesar’s Head State Park — Probably the most prolific raptor migration spot in the region, averaging about 12,000 broad-winged hawks a season. Caesar’s Head State Park is on U.S. 276 in South Carolina just below the North Carolina line.
• Ridge Junction Overlook — On the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 355 next to the entrance to Mt. Mitchell State Park.
• Jackson Park — Another great spot for migrating songbirds From Waynesville take Exit 49 B off of I-26 East. Continue on U.S. 64 West toward downtown Hendersonville. Go through the traffic light at end of exit ramp onto Four Seasons Boulevard (U.S. 64) for 1.6 miles, passing four more traffic lights. After a wetland area on the left, turn left at the 5th traffic light (Harris Street). Go 0.2 mile to the stop sign at the end of street. Turn left onto E. 4th Avenue, enter the park and follow road to the Administration Building (red-brick house on left) and parking.
• Rankin Bottoms Wildlife Management Area and adjoining Dutch Bottoms — Rankin Bottoms and Dutch Bottoms produce many species of migrant shorebirds and waterfowl every year including white pelican, tundra swan, upland, white-rumped, pectoral, least and solitary sandpiper, greater and lesser yellowlegs, ruddy turnstone, black tern and more. Rankin Bottoms lies along the confluence of the Nolichucky and French Broad rivers about 2 miles from the mouth of the French Broad. TVA’s Douglas Dam regulates the water level at Rankin Bottoms. Much of the bottoms are accessible by vehicle and by foot during the fall and winter when TVA drops the water levels. From Waynesville, take I-40 west to exit 432 B. That will put you on U.S. 25/70. Follow U.S. 25 East out of Newport to Rankin Hill Road. I would estimate about 5 miles, but I have never measured it. There will be a brown “Watchable Wildlife” sign at Rankin Hill Road. Follow Rankin Hill Road to the railroad crossing.
(Don Hendershot is a writer and naturalist. He can be reached a This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
