Lake Junaluska- 1 April, 2011

Braved a somewhat chilly morning for several hours at Lake Junaluska to be rewarded by a good variety of species. Highlights for me were a group of 5 Black-crowned Night-Herons that flew over the lake just to the west of the vehicular bridge, 1 Great Egret, 3 Blue-winged Teal, 2 Northern Shovelers, a singing, heard only White-crowned Sparrow, several Common Loons, and a nice flock of Purple Finches and Pine Siskins on the south side of the lake. A Snowy Egret, Red-breasted Mergansers, and Horned Grebes have been seen here recently but were not present today. According to Ebird, I got 8 new Haywood County birds this morning...not bad for less than three hours! The list from the lake today:

Canada Goose 52
Mute Swan 4

Wood Duck 1
Mallard 2
Mallard (Domestic type) 52
Blue-winged Teal 3
Northern Shoveler 2
Ring-necked Duck 1
Lesser Scaup 5
Bufflehead 13
Hooded Merganser 1
Ruddy Duck 84
Common Loon 3
Pied-billed Grebe 15
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron-5

American Coot 455 
Bonaparte's Gull 1  
Ring-billed Gull 1  
Rock Pigeon 1 
Mourning Dove 6  
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3  
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 
Downy Woodpecker 2  
Northern Flicker 2 
Eastern Phoebe 1 
Blue Jay 13  
American Crow 38 
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 38  
Tree Swallow 221  
Barn Swallow 8 
Carolina Chickadee 17 
Tufted Titmouse 4  
White-breasted Nuthatch 3 
Carolina Wren 12 
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1 
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1  
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3 
Eastern Bluebird 9  
American Robin 54  
Northern Mockingbird 3 
Brown Thrasher 1  
European Starling 16 
Cedar Waxwing 45 
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 41  
Eastern Towhee 16  
Song Sparrow 42 
White-throated Sparrow 1
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 22
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Common Grackle 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 12
Purple Finch 12
House Finch 25
Pine Siskin 8
American Goldfinch 18
House Sparrow 10 

The Ruddy Ducks were absolutely gorgeous, as well as the Common Loons- both species have entered into full breeding plumage. 

                                          Common Loon


Other species seen today:
Sharp-shinned Hawk     1- Flew across US 74, Haywood County
Turkey Vulture              3- Western Carolina University campus


The day's tally: 60 species