Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

International Migratory Bird Day Saturday

Story by Celeste von Mangan

North Carolina is a regular stop for many migratory birds in both spring and fall—Canadian geese, cranes, storks, snow geese, tundra swans—and many duck and songbird species are part-time residents of the state. International Migratory Bird Day—this year on Saturday, May 12—celebrates the birds’ incredible journey as well as their beauty.

The focus in 2007 is on climate change and its effect on migratory birds. Loss of essential habitat for birds disrupts migration patterns, thus increasing the competition for food between migratory birds and year-round avian residents. Birds have long been key indicators of environmental change caused by pesticides, polluted water and the loss of contiguous forest.

By the second week of May, in-migration of neotropical migratory birds—birds that breed in Canada and the United States during the summer and spend the winter in Mexico, Central America, South America or the Caribbean islands—reaches its pinnacle. The High Country hosts one of two temperate forest zones on earth, and this special environment provides a home for more than 80 species of migratory birds.

Grandfather Mountain is holding two events Saturday so locals can learn more about our migratory birds.

From 7:00 until 10:00 a.m., Audubon biologist Curtis Smalling will lead a bird walk on the Profile Trail. Participants are encouraged to bring binoculars, and admission to the bird walk is included with a hiking permit or park admission.

From 11:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., Smalling will present a slideshow entitled Migratory Birds: Grandfather’s Seasonal Residents in the Nature Museum auditorium. Admission to the slideshow is included with admission to the park.

For more info, call 828-733-2013.

Want To Go?

Date: Saturday, May 12
Time: 7:00 until 10:00 a.m. guided hike/11:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. slideshow
Location: Grandfather Mountain, Linville
Cost: Admission price to park

Protecting Migratory Birds

With 300 acres of land being developed every day in North Carolina, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offers the following advice to help protect migratory bird species.

Protect, Create, Restore Habitat: Reduce the amount of green lawns and provide a more hospitable environment for feathered residents that includes dead trees and brush piles that provide shelter, nest sites and insects for food; a water source from a bird bath, creek, pond or waterfall; and food, either from a bird feeder or from plating native evergreens, fruiting trees, shrubs, grasses and vines. Careful planning will ensure that plants flower and trees and shrubs produce fruit throughout the spring, summer and fall.

Pesticides and Chemicals: Herbicides, pesticides and fungicides can kill birds directly or contaminate the water they drink and the insects they eat. The obvious solution is to avoid chemicals that harm birds.

Bird-Window Collisions: Dr. Dan Klem of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Penn. estimates that up to one billion birds are killed every year during migration by flying into windows. Klem’s research has focused on skyscrapers, but homeowners can take precautions to help birds avoid fatal collisions by using nonreflecting window coatings, window screens, flash tape and bird netting.

Birding in the Mountains

Numerous sites in the High Country offer bird watchers good locations for observing our feathered friends. Popular birding sites include the following:

• Bluff Mountain, West Jefferson

• Mount Jefferson State Park, Jefferson

• New River State Park, near Jefferson

• Moses Cone Memorial Park and Julian Price Memorial Park, Blowing Rock

• Grandfather Mountain, Linville

• Linville Gorge Wilderness area, Linville Falls