Strong winds and snow squalls greeted the eight people who showed up for the regular monthly bird walk at the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship on Saturday, January 23. While the snow squalls let up pretty quickly, the winds did not, and as a result we found only 14 species of birds. They appeared to be well hunkered down.  Therefore, many of the individual birds were heard rather than seen. With the exception of a few vultures, little was flying. The complete list is below, or can be viewed online at eBird.

However, the skies and the vistas were beautiful, and those few of us who stayed until the end of the walk, including trip leads Joe Coleman and Michael Sciortino, thoroughly enjoyed the views.

Photo by Michael Sciortino.

Species List:
Black Vulture  6
Turkey Vulture  3
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Pileated Woodpecker  1
American Crow  4
Carolina Chickadee  1
Tufted Titmouse  3
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Carolina Wren  3
European Starling  2
Eastern Bluebird  4
White-throated Sparrow  10
Song Sparrow  5
Northern Cardinal  4

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