| Black-throated Blue Warbler [Photo Credit: Joe Kegley] |
Heading through our “neighborhood” of Pisgah National Forest in the North Carolina mountains on its way to its winter abode in the Caribbean, the Black-throated Blue Warbler is a fairly common visitor to the Inn on Mill Creek B&B in the early fall. Thus, this beautiful songbird earns the September spot in our 2013 Birding at the Inn series on the blog.
| Eastern Phoebe at the Inn on Mill Creek says, “get my good side” |
Csaba the Innpug isn’t the only cute creature at the Inn on Mill Creek with a tail that wags. With its constantly wagging tail, good looks, and social butterfly attitude, the Eastern Phoebe is one of our favorite birds at the Inn. The Phoebe is also a longtime resident of the nest above the back porch door at the Inn on Mill Creek Bed & Breakfast, having constructed the nest in 2008. The Phoebe (we’re not sure it’s the same one, but we like to think so!) has made several upgrades to the mud and grass nest over the years, and we have helped a little as well…you might remember our blog post about the Extreme Makeover Eastern Phoebe Edition.
| Lovely little hummer at the Inn on Mill Creek |
The speedy little Ruby-throated Hummingbird is our July pick for this year’s 12 Months of Birding at the Inn series on the Inn on Mill Creek blog. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird has the distinct honor of being the eastern United States’ only breeding hummingbird, so if you see your hummers disappear for a few weeks in the summer, no worries, they’re just starting their little families and will be back soon.
Busy day at the Inn on Mill Creek birdfeeders today! These three photos were taken in the span of about four minutes. Just a taste of what you might encounter in the summertime at the Inn on Mill Creek, which is a site on the North Carolina Birding Trail, Mountains Region.
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher building a nest in our apple orchard |
A resident of the neotropics, the blue-gray gnatcatcher migrates to our neck of the woods for the summertime and thus gets a spot as our June bird in this year’s 12 Months of Birding at the Inn series on the blog. The gnatcatcher is a tiny gray bird, with a long white-edged tail and dark streaks above its eyes that make it look like the gnatcatcher flew straight out of the Angry Birds game.
If you look up in the trees near the Lake House at the Inn on Mill Creek in the spring or summertime and see a blue-colored bird perched at the very top, and he’s singing, and singing, and singing some more, and you go out for an afternoon of sightseeing and come back and there he is, still singing, then you’ve met the Indigo Bunting. [Photo below of two Indigo Buntings by our guest, Sharon Hurst]
Its cheery song is smile-inducing, the return of its golden feathers in April adds to Spring’s color palette, and its frequency and acrobatic skills at the feeders make it a constant joy to watch. What’s not to love about the American Goldfinch? The second most-photographed bird at the Inn on Mill Creek (after our unofficial mascot, the ever-entertaining Tufted Titmouse), the American Goldfinch is also one of our most asked-about birds. So let’s give the goldfinch its due as the featured bird in the month of April in this year’s12 Months of Birding at the Inn series on our blog.
| White-breasted Nuthatch at the Inn |
When you watch the suet and seed birdfeeders at the Inn on Mill Creek, you may notice a smallish bird with a big head, a short tail, and a white chest, with striking black and gray markings and black going over the top of its head, quickly scooting up and down and all around a tree trunk at weird angles. If he looks like the guy in the photo above, then you’ve seen the White-breasted Nuthatch, our March bird in the 12 Months of Birding series that we’re doing on the blog.
