Sharpies Storm Station!
Sharp-shinned Hawks (SSHA) continue to dominate the skies at BBBS during late September and early October. Over 80 raptors of six species have been banded and released at BB, with SSHA comprising over 75% of the total. Recent highlights.include a young male Peregrine Falcon, and American Kestel. We expect SSHA numbers to peak in the next […]
Migration Continues with Great Diversity
Our daily numbers of birds have gone down over the past few days. However, we’ve had great diversity, with as many as 17 different species of passerines. Recent highlights include Connecticut Warbler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and Philadelphia Vireo. In addition, 25 raptors have been trapped and banded during the last three days. Go to our Songbird […]
Keen-eyed student spotters help BBBS count 1300 migrating raptors on Sept 20!!!
Migrant birds continued to flow through Big Bald Banding Station this week. With the help of 150 visiting students from Mars Hill Elementary, Evergreen Community Charter School, Hot Springs Elementary and station volunteers, large numbers of birds were counted and banded. Passerine highlights were Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a leucistic Downy Woodpecker, and a Golden-crowned Kinglet. As the peak of Broad-winged Hawk (BWHA) […]
Big Week at Big Bald
Migrants continue to pour through Big Bald during their southward journey to Central and South America. Over 1,000 birds, including 600+ Tennessee Warblers, were captured and banded over the past two weeks, keeping volunteers quite busy! We had 225 birds on Sept. 8, our biggest day of the season so far. Recent highlights include Wilsons, Western […]
Fall Migration Begins!
BBBS began the bird migration banding season with a bang this past week, handling 340 birds of 30 species in five days of trapping and banding!!! Banded bird highlights include locally breeding Canada Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler and Blue-headed Vireo plus long-distance migrants from the boreal forest such as Cape May Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler […]
Big Bald MAPS flies to the finish with Broad-winged Hawk
The Big Bald MAPS station finished the 2012 season with a unique bird capture. A dozen MAPS station visitors and volunteers were treated to a rare close-up examination of a Broad-winged Hawk, one of only two of this species ever captured at Big Bald in 8 seasons of effort. The Broad-winged Hawk is a common but […]
Fall Banding Season
Southern Appalachian Raptor Research will commence fall migration banding at Big Bald on August 29, 2012. The banding station will be open sunrise to mid-afternoon most days through October, weather permitting. If you are interested in volunteering or visiting the station with a group this autumn, please contact us. For additional information about our fall […]
The Amazing “Blue-headed” Junco
Big Bald Banding Station recently received an amazing visit from an ‘old acquaintance.’ A male Slate-colored Junco was re-captured on August 31, 2011, sporting adult plumage and wearing a very worn and faded aluminum leg band. On close inspection at the banding table, the numbers on the faded band were recorded and the data submitted to […]
A.T. Journeys
Southern Appalachian Raptor Research was featured in the July-August 2012 edition of A.T. Journeys, the magazine of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Click here to view a copy of the article, “Mountain Migration,” courtesy of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
Vacation Bird School
Southern Appalachian Raptor Research offered a week of Vacation Bird School (VBS) in the Big Bald habitat, July 9-13. Students explored the wonderful world of birds through daily expeditions into the local mountain habitat, literature readings, creative writing, applied arts, nest searching, bird banding and data collection techniques. Registration for VBS 2013 will begin in January. […]