The Jewels of the North Carolina Mountains: Final Day -- Birds and Sunset -- June 15

180 Degree view from Sam Knob -- near Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina -- June 11, 2013 -- Photo by Carl Miller

            Here it is -- the final edition of the travelogue on our June 2013 trip to the North Carolina mountains.  For our last day, Carl and I truly wanted a hike of decent length.  Unfortunately, on our previous day's hikes to the waterfalls, I had rubbed raw an ant bite wound on top of my toe.  I was fairly certain that my wound would not tolerate the hiking boots on a long hike.  Thus, Carl and I decided to return to Richland Balsam -- a favorite, birdy destination from last year's trip.  In fact, this site hosted the very rare Mourning Warbler last year!

Mourning Warbler -- Richland Balsam Overlook -- Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 19, 2012 -- Photo by Carl Miller

It also happens to be the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway (close to milepost 431) at 6053 feet.  Just north of there, is another pull-off, Jackson-Haywood Overlook, with a 1.5 mile loop trail that takes you to the summit of Richland Balsam with an elevation of 6410 feet.

            As always, we left the cabin early to reach the parkway when the birds would be the liveliest.  Since it was a Saturday, it was also important to try to be up there as early as possible before the loud motorcylces found their way up.  In route to the Richland Balsam Overlook, we stopped at milepost 433 at the Roy Taylor Forest Overlook.  The temperature was in the upper 50s and the breeze was brisk.  We took the short trail to the overlook for the view.  The best birds though were singing in the parking lot.  Here, we had our best views of the magnificent Blackburnian Warbler!

Blackburnian Warbler -- Roy Taylor Forest Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

              Competing for "air time" for his own song, we had this Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Chestnut-sided Warbler -- Roy Taylor Forest Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

         This much quieter Cedar Waxwing was enjoying the warmth of the sun's rays on this cool morning.

Cedar Waxwing -- Roy Taylor Forest Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

Cedar Waxwing -- Roy Taylor Forest Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

          The shrub, brush, trees held many busy bird species such as American Robins, Eastern Towhees, Chickadees, and Indigo Buntings.  Eventually, we decided that we should continue up the road before too many noisy motorbikes arrived and interfered with our birding by ear.

          Arriving at the Richland Balsam Overlook, we were overwhelmed with bird song from all sides.  The next challenge was to find these songsters.  Try as I might, I could not spot the Black-Throated Green Warblers.  This Winter Wren, on the other hand, was quite happy to sing from his open perch.

Winter Wren -- Richland Balsam Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

Winter Wren -- Richland Balsam Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

           Such a beautiful, long serenade!   I did not have my tripod with me but Carl did and so he captured this fabulous video of this balladeer.

Winter Wren singing -- Richland Balsam -- June 15, 2013 -- Video by Carl Miller

       A couple of Chestnut-sided Warblers were disputing territory.  In the photo below, this fellow is going after another who must have been pushing the line a bit.

Chestnut-sided Warbler -- Richland Balsam Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

        A Red-breasted Nuthatch was investigating a snag close to the Winter Wren's snag.

Red-breasted Nuthatch -- Winter Wren -- Richland Balsam Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

Of course, we had the "not-to-be-out-sung" Indigo Bunting!

Indigo Bunting -- Richland Balsam Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

       
             The Richland Balsam Overlook, being the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway, serves as a must-stop for all the motoring tourists.  Soon, as it was a Saturday, there were as many as twenty motorcycles roaring into the parking lot.  I suppose that we birders look as curious to them as they do to us.  Particularly, our excitement was notable when Carl and I figured out that a small flock of Red Crossbills with one Pine Siskin had flown in!  This Red Crossbill posed ever so nicely for us.  This was our second view ever of this species.  My regular readers will remember my report of this Life Bird in a previous edition of "The Jewels of the North Carolina Mountains: Day 2& 3 -- June 11 - 12."

Red Crossbill -- Richland Balsam Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

Pine Siskin -- Richland Balsam Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

Though certainly not my best Pine Siskin shot, I was delighted to see it and shoot it.  I had not yet seen a Pine Siskin on this trip!

           As the morning warmed, Carl and I decided it was time to hike to the summit and so we drove up to the trailhead at the very next overlook, Jackson-Haywood Overlook.  From the parking lot, we spotted more Red Crossbills, a Broad-winged Hawk, a few more Cedar Waxwings, and some American Goldfinches.

More Red Crossbills -- Jackson-Haywood Overlook -- Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

          About 50 yards up the trail, I figured out that my sore toe was not going to tolerate the hiking boot.  I decided to return to the car to change into sandals.  The trail appeared to be the kind that you could easily hike in sandals.  Ah, but the beginning of all these trails appear deceptively smooth -- rock- and root-free!  Ha!  As I climbed up the steep, rocky, well-rooted slope, I prayed that I would not destroy my only pair of sandals.  For the most part, this trail was heavily wooded and very cool.  We heard and saw quite a variety of species:  a few Veery, a couple of families of Dark-Eyed Juncos, a feisty couple of Canada Warblers (we must have been very close to the nest), more Black-Throated Green and Chestnut-sided Warblers, American Robins, a slew of Golden-Crowned Kinglets and singing-for-territory Winter Wrens.  The Golden-Crowned Kinglets responded with great curiosity to our phishing in the darkest areas of the trail.  Though they came close, they were exceedingly difficult to photograph.  Carl finally managed to nab this one in a photo.

Golden-Crowned Kinglet -- Richland Balsam -- Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013 -- Photo by Carl Miller

         We thoroughly enjoyed our very birdy hike!  And my sandals survived the descent to continue to propell me through my summer.  Our plan for the rest of the day included a return to the cabin for showers and napping and then a sunset photo shoot from the Waterrock Knob Overlook (milepost 451.2) for the evening.

           Waterrock Knob Overlook lies on top of a ridge line with a trail at the far end that leads to the top of the knob. Those visitors looking for a great place to shoot either sunrise or sunset will find it here.  Thus far, we have only tried sunset!  Though it was raining when we left the cabin that evening, we expected that perhaps the weather would be different on the knob.  The summer time weather in the mountains changes so very quickly from place to place.  Indeed, last summer, we had arrived at this same overlook for the same activity just as a shower was ending.  We were awed by the sight of a double rainbow as the sun broke through.

Waterrock Knob -- Blue Ridge Parkway -- June 16, 2012

Waterrock Knob -- Blue Ridge Parkway -- June 16, 2012

A few more photos from last year's sunset visit merit posting.  Along the trail, for example, I photographed this beautiful speciman of a Purple Fringed Orchid.

Purple Fringed Orchid -- Waterrock Knob Trail -- Blue Ridge Parkway -- June 16, 2012

Here are the best of my early evening and sunset shots from here.

Late afternoon sun breaking through rainclouds -- Waterrock Knob Overlook -- Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 16, 2012

Cloudy sunset -- Waterrock Knob -- Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 16, 2012

          Those rainbows greatly compensated for the lack of spectacular in the sunset that followed.   We were quite happy with those rainbows but how would we do this year?  As we arrived, we found some tourists already parked there awaiting the sunset.  We also noted that with the drop in temperature, several birds were soaking up the final rays from the sun as they also seemingly awaited the show.

Cedar Waxwings -- Waterrock Knob -- Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

Eastern Towhee -- Waterrock Knob -- Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

Cedar Waxwings -- Waterrock Knob -- Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

Finally, the sun began to descend behind the mountain tops...

Sunset -- Waterrock Knob -- Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

.... and the skies' hues deepened.

Sunset -- Waterrock Knob -- Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

Very quickly, more rain clouds moved in to change the scene a bit once more.

Sunset -- Waterrock Knob -- Blue Ridge Parkway, NC -- June 15, 2013

             This final sunset seems to have provided an appropriate closure to our wonderful North Carolina Mountain Jewels vacation.  To cap it all off, I finally heard (but sadly did not see) a Northern Saw-whet Owl -- my last new bird for this trip -- from the ridge top!  These spectacular jewels -- the birds, wildflowers, waterfalls, scenery, butterflies -- are all in one beautiful area.  How lucky are we to have this close-by!   I hope that my readers have enjoyed this virtual journey to some of our favorite sites in this fabulous area.  Perhaps some of you who have not yet seen these jewels will be inspired to visit.  Myself, I cannot wait to return again!