High Country Audubon Society

02/06/2026

Due to forecasts for below zero windchills all tomorrow morning, tomorrow's Brookshire Park bird walk is cancelled.

11/29/2025

My Tufted Titmice carry off lots of the whole unsalted peanuts I put out. They compete with the Crows for them. Somewhere around my house, there are some very full winter caches of peanuts in the shell.

11/06/2025

It’s Wildlife Wednesday! We found a couple of creepers today on the weekly bird walk. The good news is they were Brown Creepers, which are spectacularly well camouflaged birds who creep up tree trunks looking for bugs in the crevices in the tree bark. They are actually quite common, especially in the winter, but they can be quite tricky to spot.

10/30/2025

Rain got you stuck inside? Curl up with a good book! We’ll be offering occasional recommendations this winter, but looking at this week’s forecast, we thought we’d get the series started early.

“Nature’s Best Hope” by Douglas W. Tallamy is such an enjoyable read, you may not realize how much you are learning. Dr. Tallamy is an entomologist, conservationist, and professor at the University of Delaware. Despite all of his expertise, he writes in easy-to-understand language, interspersing dry humor, practical advice, and research statistics.

Tallamy’s optimistic belief that we can all help respond to the biodiversity crisis in our own yards is inspiring. He is the knowledgeable gardening friend we all wish we had.

Learn more about educational resources we recommend: https://www.danielboonenativegardens.org/resources

10/28/2025

Hi everyone,

With the current cold weather, I'm starting the Wednesday High Country Audubon Valle Crucis Park bird walks at 10am starting tomorrow.

The weather forecast looks iffy, so I'll send an email at 8am tomorrow if it's canceled due to bad weather.

Happy Birding!
-Paul Laurent

(931) 452-9254
[email protected]

Epic Nature Tours offers high quality, hand-crafted, guided travel to the most amazing places in Costa Rica. Our guided tours to Costa Rica are the perfect trip for birders and nature enthusiasts alike. By keeping our groups small, we are able to cater to a wide variety of interests.

10/26/2025

10/15/2025

Great News!!

After 30 years of effort, Blue Ridge Conservancy is thrilled to announce that it has secured the opportunity to purchase 73 acres on the north and east side of Howard K**b, the peak overlooking Boone. This property adjoins the existing 5-acre park owned by Watauga County, and will protect the land forever and provide public access for nature-based recreation, including hiking and rock climbing.

“Saving Howard K**b has been a top priority of Blue Ridge Conservancy since day one,” says Eric Hiegl, BRC’s Senior Director of Land Protection and Conservation Planning. “Land conservation projects have their own time schedule and happen when the time is right. Luckily for us the time to Save Howard K**b is now.”

In the 1990s Appalachian State students and community members attempted to buy the property to protect the iconic mountain from development and allow access to the land and climbing boulders. Although the effort was unsuccessful at that time, the group founded Watauga High Country Land Trust to “Save Howard’s K**b.” That group, renamed High Country Conservancy, merged with the West Jefferson-based Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust in 2010 to become Blue Ridge Conservancy. Since that time, BRC has protected almost 26,000 acres over seven counties in northwest North Carolina. Returning to complete the Howard K**b project represents a full-circle moment for the Conservancy.

Full story here: https://blueridgeconservancy.org/recent-news/blue-ridge-conservancy-announces-opportunity-to-save-howard-knob-for-recreation-and-public-access

10/06/2025

My annual reminder now that it's October: They're starting to appear...those ubiquitous fake spider webs around doorways. Please please please don't put these up! They are notorious for catching all sorts of wildlife including bats, owls, songbirds, all sorts of beneficial insects and even late migrating hummingbirds. Skip the fake cobwebs and stick with pumpkins!

10/01/2025

It’s Wildlife Wednesday! I spotted a muskrat in the wetland today, the first one I’ve seen in quite some time. These semi-aquatic rodents are native, and serve a vital role in preserving wetlands. I’ve noticed that our wetland has been getting more are more overgrown recently, so hopefully this muskrat will stick around and thin out some of the vegetation, which will end up improving the habitat for all sorts of other species.

09/29/2025

A MASSIVE nighttime surge of over 500,000,000 birds are flocking through the eastern United States right now! This nocturnal migration is detected using the same doppler radar meteorolgists use to track rain, snow and storms. The birds concentrations can be estimated and tracked including the altitude, speed and direction of the flocks.

These birds are traveling at a higher altitude tonight, over 2400 feet at a speed of 10-20 mph. Of course they are heading south. There are countless varieties of Warblers, Vireo, Thrush and many more. Just last week, record data of over 1.2 BILLION birds were tracked at what was likely the peak of the annual fall bird migration.

09/26/2025

Fall migration is beautiful... but also perilous. According to a new study by the National Audubon Society, southbound migration after the breeding season is the most dangerous time for warblers. It’s not just long distances — young birds, light pollution, urban sprawl, and livestock practices all put these little travelers at risk.

If you love warblers and care about bird conservation, there are things we can do:
• Join WAS's Lights Out committee to help take action!
• Turn off or dim outdoor lights at night 🕯️
• Use bird-safe lighting & reduce light pollution
• Support native plants and habitat around your home
• Advocate for safer urban planning and wildlife-friendly practices

Read more about this new study from the National Audubon Society
https://www.audubon.org/press-room/fall-migration-most-dangerous-season-warblers-new-audubon-study

Common Yellow Throats. Photo: Ross McKinney/Audubon Photography Awards