Burnsville Birds

We have just returned from spending most of a week at a farmhouse in North Carolina, near the town of Burnsville, which is northeast of Ashville.

It was a place with great charm and we were able to spend time toward recovering S from 2 weeks of the flu and bronchitis.

The temperatures were mostly in the 40's to upper 50's with a couple of warmer days. It drizzled quite a bit and at night the wind would sometimes pick up and rattle the house.

We read and worked on a jigsaw puzzle and observed the nature in the valley.

We recorded 20 different species of birds during the week. A bluebird pair was nesting in the bird box on the fence. The post had been wrapped with barbed wire. We assume this was to discourage predators.

We filled bird feeders on each porch and they were used by cardinals, chickadees and titmice.

One morning there was a flock of juncos in the driveway. Song sparrows filled the country air with their melodious voices. Goldfinches were beginning to turn yellow for the summer. Song sparrows, goldfinches and juncos are not common in our area, so this was a treat.

While Canada Geese are very common here in north Florida, the only one we saw on our trip was floating on the Cane River. It did not move as we watched it and must have found some way to wedge a foot in the rocks as the flow was not carrying it downstream.

We saw our first ruffed grouse along a mountain road and counted 9 wild turkeys in two days. No grouse photo, but loved hearing from a hiker son that grouse that drum when they are courting can scare you to death when you have hiked all day on the A.T. without seeing a soul and one of these guys seems to come up so loud from out of no where.

There will be more about our trip in coming posts but for now, back to laundry!