Cerulean Warbler at Bull Gap Overlook in Buncombe County, North Carolina

Carrie and I saw this Cerulean Warbler this morning along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Buncombe County, North Carolina. We heard it singing as soon as we got out of the car at Bull Gap Overlook, and it sang the whole time until we left. It was a lifer for both of us.

Here is a photo of the view by Craggy Gardens further up the parkway.



We are here on a visit my mother trip, but I have been planning to look for Cerulean on the parkway since our visit here last July. Western North Carolina is where I grew up, but I was not a birder back in those days.

There are Eastern Towhees, Carolina Wrens, Northern Mockingbirds, and Song Sparrows everywhere in the lower elevations in Haywood County, NC, where we are staying. The upper elevations on the parkway in Buncombe County, are full of nesting towhees, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Chestnut-sided Warblers. This Cerulean was on territory. There were also what appeared to be nesting pairs of Indigo Buntings, American Redstarts, Red-eyed Vireos, and Pileated Woodpeckers at the same overlook with the Ceruleans. Further up the parkway we heard but did not see Wilson's Warbler, Hooded Warbler, and Black-throated Blue Warbler. We stayed across the highway from Lake Junaluska in Haywood County, and had Carolina Wrens, Eastern Towhees, and Eastern Bluebirds greeting us when we pulled up into the apartment drive. There was a Killdeer family in the gravel parking lot adjacent to the apartment, and a pair of Northern Mockingbirds just across the highway. This morning we saw a diving Osprey in the lake across the highway as we pulled out of the drive. We also had a Common Loon in the Lake and a Bald Eagle, hundreds of Barn Swallows, and a few Tree and Northern Rough-winged Swallows over the lake. Most of the migrants seem to have already passed through in that we did not have a big variety of species. It seems that most of what is left is here to nest. We are driving home tomorrow.

Last July, we also found nesting Veery, Canada Warbler, and Chestnut-sided Warbler along the parkway in Haywood County, but we did not have time to go back to that area on this trip since we were looking for Cerulean in Buncombe County.