New River Day 4: High Country

Chestnut-sided Warbler 4-30-09

Today is cold and rainy once again as we set off on a High Country Adventure. Our bus travels bumpy dirt roads and wet paved lanes through the West Virginia countryside. Our guides today are Connie Toops, Paul Shaw and Steve McCarthy.

Bluets 4-30-09

Soon it stops alongside a bog where we clamber out to watch birds. A light rain is falling once again and I marvel at the delicate bluets growing alongside the road. These tiny eastern flowers are a favorite of mine, so much so that I would have had them as my wedding bouquet if I could have, but they are so tiny and fragile that I can only enjoy them in the wild. Looking at them now with nodding heads I recall that I used their colors as inspiration for my wedding instead. It'll be 32 years on June 4th since Gus and I were married. Now, here I am in the woods and meadows of West Virginia while he holds down the fort at home.

Roadside Bird watching 4-30-09

We stop along a couple of places with small ponds and bogs. We see king fishers and swamp sparrows, and red-shouldered hawks. We hear a sedge wren and capture a quick flash of its tiny buffy body as it darts from sedge to sedge. A pair of gnatcatchers scolds us from the brush, while in the distance the red-winged blackbirds trill. At some stops the rain is just too heavy for taking photographs, so I and others leave our cameras on the bus.

Stone work at Babcock State Park 4-30-09

It's mid-morning by the time we reach Babcock State park. The bus lets us off at the top of the road and we walk our way in past this stone structure. The woods are deep green and gray around us. Birds sing from the treetops and bushes. We stop alongside the Rhododendron bushes where we hear a Swainson's warbler call. However, it never comes out into full view for us, no matter how hard Paul and Steve try to call it up.

Alien in the woods 4-30-09

In misty gray light we walk past ancient trees with roots that look like alien bodies buried long ago and now squeezed from beneath the earth. The bus is waiting for us by the old mill and we eat our lunch inside its warmth. It is too cold and wet to dine outside on the picnic tables. Still, many of us try to capture the beauty of the old mill that is so famously photographed by so many people. Soon, we are off to watch birds again. Our ultimate destination today is the bobolink fields. After hearing their calls last night recorded by Wil Hershbereger and played for us at Smokey's on the Gorge I am looking forward to seeing this species of bird more than any other on this trip. We pile into the bus and head up Glade Creek road to our destination.

Great-crested Flycatcher 4-30-09

Along the way we continue to stop and hunt for birds, for birds are everywhere. here by an old farm house with pastures and cows, a pond and some woods the birding is excellent. A great Crested Flycatcher calls from a tree and I am amazed at how loud its voice is. It could easily be confused with our Brown-crested flycatcher or Ash-throated flycatcher if we were in Arizona. thank goodness we are not. This is a Life Bird for me.

Blue-headed vireo 4-30-09

You won't find a blue-headed vireo at your feeders, for these are insect eating birds. I have added 3 species of vireos to my life list so far. These are birds you have to go out and find or look up in your yard. And if you want vireos in your yards, don't spray pesticides! The vireos and other insect eating birds will take care of the bugs for you!

Chestnut-sided warbler 4-30-09

Warblers are everywhere and I finally am able to capture some decent photos of a chestnut sided warbler. the rain has tapered off, and the sun is even starting to peek out now and again. We are all shedding our rain coats and jackets as the muggy temperature rises.

Intense bird watching 4-30-09

Cameras and binoculars are getting a good workout this day. I think they are all looking at a broad-winged hawk on her nest.

Mystery in the water 4-30-09

We wander the gravel road where we discover bear scat and flowers. In a shallow pool we find these flaming orange candles growing from dried leaves. There is mystery and wonder everywhere.

Paul Shaw holds up a clump for all of us to see.

And then, we climb back into the bus. The time is passing by quickly. none of us wants this day to end but poor Connie has to be back to give a speech for the Elderhostel and it is getting late. We finally reach the rolling green fields where bobolinks play. Once again the West Virginia fog has rolled in. We walk through knee high grass. the farmers dogs rush out to greet us with cheerful barks. Normally I love to see dogs, but today I am focused on the birds. These birds. These electronic sounding black balls of feathers. Where are they? Where are they?

I search the field and sky with my bins. I listen with all my might. I find an eastern meadowlark on the wires, but I want to see the bobolinks and then...

Bobolink 4-30-09

I hear them. Then I see them and one lands near enough for me to photograph. but it is still so far away. The light is bad and the ground is wet and we have to go and I don't want to! I want to stay in the bobolink field for the rest of the day! i want to listen to them sing and watch them play. I want to fill my head and ears and eyes with bobolinks. I want to remember this day forever and ever. I pray there will always be bobolinks in the fields of West Virginia. This bird out of all the others is the one I want to go back and see again.

Birds Seen Today *Life Bird

1. Great blue Heron
2. Turkey Vulture
3. Broad-winged hawk
4. Red-shouldered hawk
5. Cooper's hawk
6. Osprey
7. Killdeer
8. Mourning dove
9. N. Flicker
10. Red-bellied woodpecker
11. Downy woodpecker
12. Pileated Woodpecker
13. Great-crested flycatcher*
14. Eastern Phoebe
15. Eastern Kingbird
16. King Fisher
17. Red-eyed vireo
18. Black-throated blue vireo
19. Blue jay
20. Common Raven
21. Crow
22. Northern Rough-winged swallow
23. Barn Swallow
24. Tree swallow
25. Blue-gray gnatcatcher
26. Ruby-crowned kinglet
27. Brown Trasher
28. Eastern Bluebird
29. Robin
30. Wood thrush
31. Black-capped chickadee
32. Tufted titmouse
33. White-breasted nuthatch
34. Sedge wren* (heard with a brief glimpse)
35. Starling
36. Hooded warbler
37. Black and white warbler
38. Common yellow-throat
39. Blue-winged warbler
40. Black-throated blue warbler
41. Chestnut-sided warbler
42. Swainson's Warbler* (heard only)
43. Louisianna Water thrush* (heard only)
44. Ovenbird
45. Song sparrow
46. Chipping sparrow
47. Swamp sparrow*
48. N. Cardinal
49. Indigo bunting
50. Red-winged blackbird
51. Brown-headed cowbird
52. Bobolink*
53. Eastern meadowlark
54. American Goldfinch
    

All of today's photography is by Kathie Brown with the Nikon D80 and the 70 to 300 mm lens.

New River Day 3: Sugar Creek

West Virginia is a place of history, myths and legends. The past rolls off the hills like the West Virginia fog. The fog and rain rolled in overnight and greets us early on Wednesday morning. As we pile into the bus and head up the narrow mountain road to Sugar Creek Ridge I can hear the strains of John Denver singing in my brain…

"Almost heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River…

…life is old there, older than the trees, younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze,

Country roads, take me home…"

Well, today they are taking me through mist and clouds up to a place where the warblers dwell.

Birding in West Virginia is all about the warblers for me. Though I have loved birds all my life and watched them from my yard, it wasn’t until 10 years ago that I started going out for a walk just to see birds. Until then, I only counted birds that came to my feeders, or the large shore birds I saw at the ocean. If the birds didn’t come to me, I figured I would never see them. Participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count changed all of that for me and now here I am on in the hills of West Virginia chasing warblers.

Our guides today are Geoff Heeter and Wil Hershberger. Geoff is the owner of Opossum Creek Retreat where most of us are staying for the New River Birding Festival. Wil is a quiet man with ears like a bat in his ability to hear sounds. As we pile out of the bus in the mist on the narrow mountain road Wil starts to call like a barred owl to flush the birds. Apparently if the little birds think a barred owl is around they will hurry in and try to mob it and chase it away. Having just recently heard a barred owl at Nina’s house in Ohio, I was amazed at how authentic he sounded. And soon the warblers came in.

We saw a hooded warbler, a black-throated green, cerulean warbler and a yellow-throated warbler. Wil called in an American Redstart as well, but my favorite and the only one I got a halfway decent picture of is the Worm-eating warbler. While its name is not so attractive, I think it is a marvelous bird with its striped ochre head. Sometimes I really like the subtle colors of the woodland birds over the flashy colors of the others. This little warbler sat up on a branch and sang its song in the constant drizzle for us. You can see the drops of water hanging on the branches here.

The Sugar Creek Ridge Road is narrow and winding. Cut into the side of the mountain, it rises steeply on one side and drops precipitously on the other. While there are woods all around us, there is nowhere to sneak off safely and relieve your bladder, especially if you are a woman. And, as usual, we have men driving the bus and leading the trip. Men with bladders of steel and no mercy! Being able to use the restroom is one of the biggest challenges on these birding treks. I finally find a small dirt track that veers off in a somewhat level direction after another woman points it out to me. Fortunately, everyone else is enthralled with looking at the birds and the mist is as thick as ever.

We walk the dirt road for awhile but the rain starts to pick up and it soon drives us off the mountain. Geoff Heeter decides we should take a break in Anstead at the Blue Smoke Café. We are greeted by a gracious hostess and served delicious hot coffee. Here in this small town we also find flush toilets! Yay!

After our stop we travel down Rt. 60 to Hawk’s Nest State Park. Fog continues to roll off the mountainside lending an air of mystery to the day.

KatDoc lost deep in thought sitting under the pavilion where we eat our lunch.

Then, it’s down the hill and across the road for more bird watching. You can see how wet it is from Nina’s coat.


We form our own little Birder’s Parade as we cross RT. 60 to the Hawk’s Nest Overlook.

Birders bird watching…what do we see?

(A complete checklist is posted below.)

I wrote about this disaster in an earlier post. Here is the sign marking the location of the disaster.

And below us on the riverbank as if in homage to the dead workers a flock of Black Vultures lurks. (Click on photo to enlarge. You can see the black vultures on the rocks.)

"...dark and dusty, painted on the sky,

misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye... "

Hawk's Nest tunnel with water flowing through it. Watch a short historical video about the disaster here.

View from the Hawk's Nest overlook. We watched four cormorants fly by below us from this vantage point.

Yellow-throated warbler seen on the path from the overlook.

This beautiful stone building is actually the restroom at Hawk's Nest State park. It's the prettiest restroom we used on our trip.




Aall around the mountains are in bloom. I love the pink flowers of the Redbud trees...

...and the lovely white cross-shaped blossoms of dogwood. Yes, "take me home, country roads..."

...back to Burnwood where the day began. We eat breakfast here everyday now, gathered in the predawn darkness beneath this pavilion where hot coffee, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon and fried potatoes greet us every morning. Today's rain has driven us home early and so we decide to see what birds we can see here at Burnwood before heading back to the Farmhouse for the afternoon.

Wil Hershberger and Geoff Heeter @ Burnwood 4-29-09

Wil Hershbeger will be our speaker tonight when we gather at Smokey's on the Gorge for dinner. His presentation on bird calls will be one of the highlights of the week for me.

Nina and KatDoc scoping out the birds in the surrounding woods. Today was a day full of mist, rain, adventure and birds. Yes, we were wet, but we all had a great time and I would do it all again if given the chance.

Bird Seen Today:

Sugar Creek Ridge

1. Red-tailed hawk
2. Pileated woodpecker
3. White-breasted nuthatch
4. Carolina chickadee
5. Tufted titmouse
6. Yellow-throated vireo*
7. Red-eyed vireo
8. Blue-headed vireo
9. Black and white warbler
10. Hooded Warbler
11. Black-throated green warbler
12. Worm-easting warbler*
13. Cerulean warbler*
14. Yellow-throated Warbler*
15. American Redstart
16. Indigo bunting

Anstead

1. Chimney Swift
2. Starling
3. American Robin
4. Common Grackle

Hawks Nest State Park

1. Canada Goose
2. Double-crested cormorant
3. Black vulture
4. turkey Vulture
5. American crow
6. Pileated woodpecker
7. Eastern Phebe
8. Robin
9. Tufted titmouse
10. Carolina chickadee
11. Red-eyed vireo
12. Ovenbird
13. Blackbrunian warbler
14. Yellow-throated warbler
15. Northern cardinal
16. Brown-headed cowbird

Burnwood Picnic Area, Fayetteville, WV

1. Turkey Vulture
2. Crow
3. Carolina chickadee
4. Tufted Titmouse
5. Robin
6. Woodthrush
7. Indigo bunting
8. Eastern Towhee
9. Chipping sparrow
10. Northern Cardinal
    

*Life Birds

I submitted all of these bird counts to eBird and to my amazement, I am now one of the top 100 eBirders in Fayetteville, WV. How can this be? Well, the truth is, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology needs more eBirders. Just recently they started a blog of their own called Chip Notes-eBird Buzz. If you don't think you can actually make a difference, here is their first post explaining why they need more ebirders and yes, you can do it! (Click on the link to go to the original post.)

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Do you eBird?
Based on recent research we've learned that roughly 70,000 people use eBird more than 50 times a year to gather information on birds. Most surprising to us was the fact that just 10,000 people entered data into eBird at least once, and even more remarkable is that just 2500 people entered more than 50 eBird checklists last year. What this tells us is that there is a large community of people out there using eBird as an information source, but a relative few actually contribute data. We want to better understand what drives our users, and ultimately participation in eBird. Why people submit data, why they don't, what's good and bad about eBird? Helping us answer these questions will make eBird a better tool for birders, and ultimately put more data into the hands of scientists and conservationists. With that, we ask you, the eBird community how we can be better...
Posted by Brian Sullivan at 5:40 PM

Skywatch Friday: Blue Sunset

Blue Sunset on the New River Gorge 4-29-09 @ 5:13 PM

This photo was taken 7 minutes later than last week's Skywatch Friday photo.

Both were taken by Kathie with the Nikon D80 and the 70 to 300 mm lens.

Visit Skywatch Friday!

(click to enlarge photo for the best view)

Shooting Data:

• Focal Length: 70mm
• Digital Vari-Program: Night Landscape
• Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
• 1/15 sec - F/6.3

New River Day 2: Cranberry Glades

Luna Moth 4-27-09 Fayetteville, WV

A day that starts out with a Luna moth can only get better and it did. Our early morning hot breakfast at the Burnwood picnic area had to hold us for several hours as we drove to Cranberry Glades in the Monongahela National Forest. We drive north under sunny skies gaining altitude as we travel until we reach an elevation of 3400 feet. Since I live out west at 3300 feet, this does not seem too high to me, but I can see the vegetation change the higher we go. When we finally get out of the bus at Cranberry Bog the trees are barely blushing with new buds compared to the tiny celery colored leaves back in Fayetteville.

Right off the bat our faithful guides Connie Toops, Geoff Heeter and Keith Richards find us some chestnut- sided warblers. While I have seen and photographed this bird in its winter plumage in Arizona, this is the first time I have seen it in its breeding plumage with the lovely chestnut streak running down its side. A pair of males are fighting over territory from opposite sides of the road, flying back and forth and singing their challenge songs of spring.

The day starts off cool as we meander down the ½ mile board walk but soon the brilliant sunlight warms the air around us. Everyone is mesmerized by what we are seeing. It’s hard to know where to look first with all the bird activity around us and new life bursting from every tree and branch.

A frog sits in a pool alongside the walkway watching us with wet dark eyes. Yellow-rumped warblers flit about the treetops gleaning insects and singing as the day goes by. A small olive green warbler, plain and tiny, perches atop a distant pine tree. We are only afforded a quick glance or two but the consensus is that we have seen a Mourning warbler, which is a Life Bird* for me.

Yellow-rumped Warbler 4-27-09 Cranberry Glades, WV

Blackburnian Warbler Cranberry Glades, WV 4-27-09

Farther down the trail a small black and white bird with a throat of flame flies high into the sky. It lands on an open branch revealing its flaming throat. Looking through my binoculars, I can’t believe that dazzling shade of apricot and fire. It is a Blackburnian Warbler, another life bird for me. I fumble between binoculars and camera. I cannot get enough of this bird. I photograph it, look through my bins and take my turn at the spotting scope. I have only seen this color in a flaming sunset before, and now I am seeing it on the throat of a bird. This vision will be emblazoned on my mind for the rest of my life I am sure. This is a magnificent bird and yet another Life Bird for me.

Golden-crowned Kinglet 4-27-09

As if my heart were not full already a sweet little Golden-crowned Kinglet flies down and sings briefly on an exposed branch.

We all watch in awe as bird after bird is revealed to us. Everywhere we turn there is something new to see. Flowers are blooming everywhere, yet on the rolling hills of West Virginia the deciduous trees are still bare at this elevation.



A ring of spruce and pine wraps around the open bog in a bright green circle. Above the sky is a pale blue dome. I can't help but wonder what it will all look like in a month when everything is green and lush and bursting.

Susan and Nina 4-27-09

I look to see Susan scanning the skies while Nina searches the ground below. Each has their own interest, their own view of this world we are walking through today. Each has her own story to tell of this wonderful experience.

The birds are everywhere, and I am doing my best to census them. Besides adding species to my list, I am trying my darndest to count how many birds I am seeing. Even a trip to the outhouse yields yet another bird as I wander up the path. First I hear a rustle in the leaf litter beside me, then I find a pair of dark-eyed juncos digging in the leaves. This is why I watch birds, because birds are everywhere.

After living in the desert for two years now, I am intrigued once again by the advance of spring in a deciduous forest. The bare-branched trees always look like hands raised to the open sky. Now with the new red, lemon and lime green buds on the tips of the twigs it makes a subtle pattern as the trees grow up the slope. Looking through my lens it all gets flattened into a textured painting in my mind. I wander back down the path to capture one more photo.

Close beside the boardwalk what appears to be a red and green bird growing out of the soil is actually the bud of a skunk cabbage. These plants covered the floor of the swampy woods I grew up in. I do not see them in Arizona. As memories flood my mind, I find myself wondering: How did I get here to this tundra-like world on the east coast? It is so like places I have been before and so unlike anything I have ever seen. It is a merging of habitats for me. I feel like I am in New England and the Rocky Mountains all at once. I am here, today, in this new place as well as in the past. I am a growing thing and this is a new spring time for me.

Cranberry Glades Bird List:

1. Mallard
2. Turkey Vulture
3. Broad-winged hawk*
4. Hairy woodpecker
5. Northern flicker
6. Blue-headed Vireo
7. Blue jay
8. Common Raven
9. Black-Capped chickadee
10. Red-breasted nuthatch
11. Golden-crowned Kinglet
12. American robin
13. Chestnut-sided Warbler
14. Yellow-rumped warbler
15. Black-throated green warbler
16. Blackburnian Warbler*
17. Black and white Warbler
18. Mourning Warbler*
19. Eastern towhee
20. Chipping sparrow
21. Dark-eyed Junco
22. American goldfinch
23. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
24. Brown-headed cowbird
25. Pine siskin

*Life Birds (A Life Bird is the first time a birder has seen a species and can add it to their Life List. A Life List is a list of all the bird species a birder has seen in their life. I like to include the dates and places I have seen birds. I keep my Life List in a book and eBird keeps track of it for me when I submit my bird counts.)

My World: New River Gorge Bridge

New River Gorge Bridge 4-29-09 by Kathie Brown

The New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia was the longest single span arch bridge in the world until 2004 when the Millau Viaduct opened in France. The bridge itself is 3030 feet long and the span of the arch is 1700 ft. Lying 876 ft above the New River it doesn't look like much when you drive across it but the real beauty is seen from the side and below. This shot was taken from a viewing platform at the visitor's center in Fayetteville, WV on my recent trip to the New River Birding and Nature Festival. While the first 2 days were sunny and bright, the rest of the week we were shrouded in clouds and showered with rain. Mist and fog rolled off the hills and mountainsides and I often felt like I was living in the clouds. This area is often called the Costa Rica of America and it certainly felt and looked like a Rain Forest to me!

Bridge Lattice 4-29-09 by Kathiesbirds

I was fascinated by the beauty of the structure and the latticework of steel that lends support to the bridge. It occurred to me that this is what the birds must see as they go flying by...

Tree lattice 4-29-09 by Kathiesbirds

...not unlike the latticework of branches as they sail through the trees! I saw or heard 106 species of birds while here and added 27 species to my Life List.

The New River Gorge is famous for BASE jumpers which gather here one day a year to jump from the steel span. Called The Bridge Day Festival, the bridge is entirely closed down as participants leap off the structure into the gorge below as well as engaging in other extreme sports. Click on the link to read the official Bridge Day History and Facts.

The New River Gorge is where you can find the Big Bend Tunnel, which is the reputed location of the legend of John Henry. A steel driver, John Henry and his partner were pitted by the railroad bosses in a contest between man and machine to see which could drill farther and faster. Reputedly John Henry and his "shaker" won, but he dies with his hammer in his hand from the exertion. (Click on the link to read the full story.)

It is also the location of the worst industrial disaster in American History when, in 1930, hundreds of workers were killed either by accident or by breathing the silica dust from the drilling the 3 mile long diversion tunnel for a Hydo-electric plant on the Kanawha River. Called The Hawks Nest Incident, the silica dust acted like ground glass in the worker's lungs causing difficulty breathing and ultimately death. Since this was not a coal mine it was not subject to the same regulations and safety precautions as coal mining was. Most of the workers were African Americans looking traveling the country looking for work during the depression. Unnamed and unknown, the companies involved denied the problems and pushed the men to keep on working. When anyone died they just replaced them with the steady stream of desperate workers. In the end it is estimated that between 700 to 2000 men died before the tunnel was completed with many more sick and disabled. (Source NPS website)