Day 2 in North Carolina was spent with visiting, backyard bird watching, and a jaunt to Asheville for supplies. So skip ahead to Day 3, a beautiful day spent at the NC Arboretum! Butterflies galore, and many other little critters too.

What a lovely morning to be off work. It was warm and breezy. There were birds singing everywhere.

The Red-headed Woodpecker appears to be nesting in the dead pine that the Kestrel likes to sit on, today they were both there, I wonder if they mind one another?

I also spooked a couple of Bob White’s, sorry to spook them but it’s hard to see ground birds when you are too busy looking up! Most of those little warblers and such are so high up in the trees. I had my first sighting of Northern Parula in the yard.

Northern Parula

White-eyed Vireo

Here are some photos from the Botanical Gardens of Asheville (at UNCA).

From what I’m heard, Asheville’s main spot for birdwatching is Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary. A very neat place for birds and other creatures (including lots of ginormous frogs), and there were many of Asheville’s resident birds there, including a little nuthatch! (Sadly no photo of the nuthatch though. Flighty little thing.)

This last one is a TERRIBLE photo, but this guy was so cool. A Northern Flicker.