Birds Of The Blue Ridge Mountains

Suggests locales for finding specimens of the over 300 species of birds residing in this region.

This is a compact, current, easy-to-use field guide that identifies 336 species of birds that have been reported from in and near the Blue Ridge in North Carolina and Virginia and the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. The guide applies to one of the most beautiful and biologically rich regions of eastern North America, it includes only those species of birds that will be found in the region, and it can be used with comfort, confidence, and pleasure by casual and beginning observers as well as those with more extensive experience.

The well-loved standard reference for bird-watchers and nature lovers in North Carolina and South Carolina, Birds of the Carolinas collects information on all avian species known to have occurred in the region since 1900. This thoroughly revised second edition describes more than 460 individual species, including more than 60 new species that have been recorded since the publication of the first edition in 1980. Updated entries for all species reflect the current status of bird life as well as major changes in taxonomy and nomenclature. Each species account indicates when and where the bird is most likely to be found in the Carolinas, its nesting habits, feeding habits, and descriptive information useful in identifying the species. Generously illustrated with 350 color photographs, this comprehensive guide to regional birds and their behavior will quickly earn a prominent place on the bookshelf of every bird-watcher in the Carolinas.

This comprehensive guidebook provides a detailed description of every official National Park Service trail along the Blue Ridge Parkway. But that's just the beginning: veteran hiker Leonard M. Adkins includes information on every trail that touches the parkway, including the Appalachian Trail and other public pathways on national park, state park, national forest, municipal, and private lands, along with citations for the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Far more than a guide to the trails, this book will help you plan your whole trip. It's the perfect companion for your next parkway adventure. Includes: - every public trail along the parkway - GPS coordinates and 72 maps - 255 total trails, including 12 new trails since the last edition - trail length and difficulty - points of interest - wheelchair accessibility - a short history of the parkway and region - campgrounds and lodges - public restroom locations - elevation change charts for cyclists - tunnel heights for RVs - wildflower bloom calendar - selected sightseeing information on nearby towns

The stunning wildlife along the Blue Ridge Parkway attracts more than 14 million annual visitors from near and far for viewing and photographing opportunities. This information-packed, pocket-size field guide features more than 200 species of mammals, birds, insects, fish, wildflowers, mushrooms and more in a convenient, portable package. Including full-color photos and easy-to-understand descriptions, species are arranged by family to aid in quick identification. This book also includes ecosystem and geology information about the park as well as suggested nature hikes. This is the perfect nature guide for your next trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Hunting from Home is the culmination of a long and thoughtful journey through the rich natural landscape of the southern Appalachians. A vivid rendering of the four seasons on a Shenandoah Valley farm and in the Virginia mountains. Christopher Camuto has been praised for writing "with the clear-sightedness and imaginative reachboth inward and outwardof a poet" (Verlyn Klinkenborg). In Hunting from Home, Camuto takes the reader through a year of intense experiences: hunting grouse with his setter through snowbound forests in winter; wading trout streams in spring; closely observing birds and wildlife through summer; exploring the backcountry, cutting wood, and hunting deer in autumn. He takes seriouslyand joyously Thoreau's injunction to practice "the discipline of looking always at what is to be seen." Camuto writes incisively about the hunter's paradoxical love of the game he pursues; but he also hunts in the broadest sense possible, searching out and witnessing the life of the things he lovesbrook trout and black bear, hawks and warblerswith the hope of sharing the pleasures and preoccupations of a "border life" lived, with deep satisfaction, in the shadow of the Blue Ridge. 4 b/w illustrations.

From Eared Grebes, Tundra Swans, and Peregrine Falcons to Lesser Yellowlegs, and Snowy Owls, Pennsylvania is home to a magnificent array of birds. In the first comprehensive summary and analysis in over a century of the birds of that state, Gerald M. McWilliams and Daniel W. Brauning provide a wealth of information for both the professional ornithologist and the amateur birder. This book treats all 428 species seen in the state, including breeding and wintering birds, migrants, and vagrants. Each entry provides the general status of a species; the locations where it is most commonly found; its natural habitat, migratory patterns, breeding habits, and seasonal status and distribution; and a summary of the bird's history in Pennsylvania. With clear descriptions of physiographic regions as well as 44 breeding distribution maps for the most commonly seen birds and 67 photographs of many rare and hard-to-find species, this volume is an indispensable resource about Pennsylvania's bird life.

Host to a large and diverse bird population as well as a long human history, Virginia is arguably the birthplace of ornithology in North America. David W. Johnston's History of Ornithology in Virginia, the result of over a decade of research, is the first book to address this fascinating element of the state's natural history. Tertiary-era fossils show that birds inhabited Virginia as early as 65 million years ago. Their first human observers were the region's many Indian tribes and, later, colonists on Roanoke Island and in Jamestown. Explorers pushing westward contributed further to the development of a conception of birds that was distinctively American. By the 1900s planter-farmers, naturalists, and government employees had amassed bird records from the Barrier Islands and the Dismal Swamp to the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains. The modern era saw the emergence of ornithological organizations and game laws, as well as increasingly advanced studies of bird distribution, migration pathways, and breeding biology. Johnston shows us how ornithology in Virginia evolved from observations of wondrous creatures to a sophisticated science recognizing some 435 avian species. David W. Johnston taught ornithology at the University of Virginia's Mountain Lake Biological Station for nearly two decades and has edited numerous ecological studies as well as the Journal of Field Ornithology and Ornithological Monographs.