Dark-eyed Junco adult and juvenile - Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Birds of North Carolina

Hiking from Clingman’s Dome (6643 feet; 2025 m) to Andrew’s Bald early one morning in late July, I came across a slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco adult and juvenile foraging along the trail. The adult gathered wasps, caterpillars, and inch worms which it fed to a youngster in the grass along the trail. The juvenile flew into the into the low branches to forage and most likely wait for its next offering. I was there for a moment, keeping an eye out for bears, before heading out to Andrew’s bald. Note the cameo appearance of Black-throated blue Warbler. Also got a glimpse (alas no video) of a beautiful male Canada Warbler which here is near the southernmost tip of its breeding range. The opening shots of the mist-covered ridges and mountain brook are from Mount Le Conte. The trail goes up through old-growth forest and diverse habitats – one of the most beautiful hikes in the national park. The last scenes (from 3:38 on) are from about 315 miles further north along the Appalachian Trail on Mount Rogers and the Grayson Highlands, Virginia. The shots of singing Dark-eyed Junco and Chestnut-sided Warbler were taken in the last days of June. The fawn and singing Ovenbird were the last creatures we saw before the spring peepers set in.

Birds heard singing/calling: Dark-eyed Junco, Winter Wren, American Crow, Hermit Thrush, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Field Sparrow, Common Yellowthroat, Eastern Towhee, Acadian Flycatcher, Ovenbird, Gray Catbird.

BIRDING VISIONS channel. With these vignettes I hope to share some of the sublime beauty of birds and their habitats. These are both documentary clips and impressions of an experience, including audio recordings of bird vocalization and the surrounding environment. The scenes are far-ranging – from the Rock Wren of remote Willis Creek Slot Canyon, Utah, foraging juvenile Red-eyed Vireo in a western Pennsylvania forest, singing Whinchat in the coastal heathland of western Norway, singing Desert Sparrow in a Bedouin camp in Saharan Morocco, to a band of Arabian Babblers in Israel.

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