Early Spring Birding
Mills River, NC
March 20, 2021
Register by clicking the ‘book now’ button above, or by contacting the Ventures office. We accept credit cards for an additional fee (2.9% for MC, Visa, Discover; 3.9% for AmEx), but you may also pay by bank transfer, cash, check, or money order. This Venture is limited to 8 participants.
Meeting place: We will at the Ingles parking lot at the corner of Highway 280 and North Mills River Rd. Time: 7:30 AM – 2 PM Cost: $55 – Picnic lunch not currently included (until further notice)
An easy walk through the greening woodlands looking for early migrants Please wear good walking shoes and be prepared for a coolish start to the morning. It could also be a bit muddy.
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a beautiful place to be in the spring and this Venture has been designed to visit some of the best spots to enjoy early birding. The songs of Blue-headed Vireos and Black-and-white warblers should be ringing out from the greening woodlands and Louisiana Waterthrush should already be back on territory along the rivers and streams, along with a few Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and maybe a Yellow-throated Warbler or two.
As well as birding our way along woodland paths and trails, we will also check out the riparian corridors along Mills and French Broad Rivers. Northern Rough-winged and Tree Swallows should be skimming the surface of the water and feeding on newly-hatched insects and a northbound Spotted Sandpiper could be bobbing on the exposed rocks in the river. There will still be quite a few overwintering birds around as well and we should find a good number of sparrows, kinglets, woodpeckers, finches and more in addition to the new spring arrivals.
Join Kevin and welcome the spring (and the warblers) back to the Southern Appalachians!