Birding the southern Appalachians: World of Warblers

Birders from all over the Carolinas descended on Hendersonville in the southern Appalachians for the Carolina Bird Club spring meeting last weekend to witness warblers at their finest.  What makes spring birding in this region so special is that the warblers arrive and begin singing before the trees have had a chance to leaf out.  This gives birders a great opportunity to see these elusive, beautiful songsters in their breeding finery that just doesn't exist in the piedmont or coastal plain.
I lead a couple field trips around Polk County in the Saluda area and, including some extra birding while "off-duty," spotted 25 warblers over the weekend--an excellent haul.

Swainson's Warbler, Pearson's Falls

This Swainson's Warbler I found on an afternoon trip to Pearson's Falls, was unusually cooperative; normally photographing warblers is an exercise in futility.  The sprightly little birds are often far away, rarely sit still, and when they do happen to take a sedentary moment nearby, there's inevitably a branch in the way and/or poor lighting. Why don't I just paunch into a rough guide to taking mediocre warbler photos?

Palm Warbler, Lake Junaluska

Here's a friendly Palm Warbler, but it was late in the day and the sun was just in the wrong place.

Blackburnian Warbler, Max Patch Road

This is a typical view of a Blackburnian Warbler...100 ft straight up.  Not much one can do about that.

Yellow-throated Warbler, Polk County

This was a rare case in which a canopy species, Yellow-throated Warbler, inexplicably dropped down to about eye level, and next to our parked vehicles on my Warrior Mountain trip to boot.  Not a rare bird, but one that I rarely see this well, and a crowd-pleaser for sure.

Cerulean Warbler, Blue Ridge Parkway north of Asheville

The joy of birding along the Blue Ridge Parkway north of Asheville isn't just the Cerulean Warblers, it's also that the steep dropoffs at the overlooks give the opportunity to look into the canopy at eye level and see, yes, Ceruleans, but lots of other warblers as well.  Ceruleans are notoriously difficult to photograph and this capture is pretty uninspiring (they usually look much bluer).

Canada Warbler, Craggy Gardens

Odds of getting a decent shot go up exponentially when the target is an understory species, such as this Canada Warbler.  This capture stands head-and-shoulders above most of the rest in this post.

Hooded Warbler, Warrior Mountain escarpment

I wasn't as lucky with this Hooded Warbler.  It was a cloudy early morning, so the light was low and he was far away.

Black-and-white Warbler, Warrior Mountain escarpment

 Same goes for this Black-and-white Warbler.

Chestnut-sided Warbler, Max Patch Road

 When you go looking for Golden-winged Warblers in North Carolina (no easy task, by the way; their population has declined some 98% in the state) Chesnut-sided Warblers become the 'trash' birds you can't get away from.  No complaints here!

Golden-winged Warbler, Max Patch Road

The real deal couldn't be bothered to pose for photos...this Golden-winged Warbler appeared to be busy trying to ensure the persistence of his genetic line in one his species' last holdouts in North Carolina.

Cape May Warbler, Lake Junaluska

 One of the handful of warblers we saw that is not a resident breeder in North Carolina was the Cape May Warbler.  This is one of those birds that could really use a name change.  It has no particularly affinity for Cape May, New Jersey, in fact, it is relatively difficult to find one there at all.  My vote would be to adopt its latin name tigrisoma and call it the 'Tiger Warbler.' Look at those stripes and orange face!

waterthrush sp., Polk County

We've worked our way from high to low and are now actually looking down on warblers. 

Which waterthrush?  It looks quite white; has a broad, flaring supercilium; and was working along the edge of a fast-flowing stream.  That makes it a Louisiana Waterthrush, right?

Northern Waterthrush, Polk County

Wrong! Closer inspection shows that it does indeed show a yellowish tinge, dense streaking and a fine bill.  I guess Northern Waterthrushes can make use of fast-moving habitats while migrating through the mountains (where stagnant water can be scarce), and can show that broad white eyebrow usually associated with Louisiana.  That's part of what makes birding fun: there's always more to learn.   

How quickly spring passes us by here in the South.  Most of the migrating warblers are well to the north of us now it seems.  They were few and far between on yesterday's Chapel Hill Spring Bird Count.  One surprising exception was a beautiful male Magnolia Warbler, the 32nd warbler species I've spotted in North Carolina this spring. That's certainly a record for me and, heck, that's a pretty good total for a year in this or any state. 

I've heard that springtime birding at Magee Marsh in Ohio is tough to beat, but if you want to see breeding plumage warblers without the crowds, it might be worth looking into a well-timed trip to the Southern Appalachians.