The

Raven's

Nest

February 2025

Friends,

After quite a cold snap in January, we’ve reached our traditional February tease, where the temps touch 70, the bulbs for the crocus and daffodils are fooled into pushing up, and people start getting restless for spring. As for the birds, I heard my first pine warblers singing at Beaver Lake last weekend, and the local song sparrows and cardinals also appear to be tuning up their vocal chords. The great horned owls at the UNC-Asheville Campus are on eggs in their nest and tree swallows have already appeared in places, always eager to push northward as soon as weather allows.

At Blue Ridge Audubon Chapter, we are also getting restless for spring. Rather, we are getting prepared for a busy spring. But February itself is shaping up to be a month full of worthwhile activities! This weekend, we are holding our rotating Third Saturday outing once again at the North Carolina Arboretum. With their generous partnership, participants can get free admission into the Arboretum for the day as long as they register on our website ahead of time. And once there, everyone is invited to stay for the Arboretum’s Bird Day, a daylong celebration of birds that includes a wonderful National Geographic Photography exhibit, live raptor presentations, a lively art market featuring a number of local bird artists, and other exhibits. Be sure to stop by the Blue Ridge Audubon Chapter table and say Hi to our volunteers there—a great opportunity to chat about ways you can get more involved this spring! And the next weekend we kick off the growing season with a Beaver Lake Work Day (see below) to move all the fallen timber into appropriate spots before the area greens up.

This event coincides with Audubon’s Great Backyard Bird Count, a weekend long project for everyone to contribute to cataloging the yearly bird populations at their feeders, yards, or local patches. You can participate in this without even leaving your kitchen window!

Also that weekend, we will be holding the return of our popular Birds, Brews and Trivia at Turgua Brewing, Sunday, February 16, 4-6pm. The last event was highly competitive with 14 teams, lively questions and a convivial atmosphere. This one promises to be the same!  

And that’s just February. In March and April, look for several great evening programs that are still being finalized. April will also see our annual Beaver Lake Celebration (tentatively set for Sunday, April 27). Also in April we will participate in North Carolina Audubon’s Advocacy Day—our annual opportunity to meet with our state legislators (over Zoom) and make our case for legislative priorities that protect birds and the places they need. And May will see the newly retooled Birdathon which will see some great changes both in the conservation cause and in how the Birdathon is conducted—stay tuned for an exciting announcement in March!

Lastly, all these things don’t just happen by themselves—they take many, many volunteers! If any of these events above interest you and you would like to help out—or if you want to volunteer your time and talents in general, please email our volunteer coordinator at blueridge.volunteer@gmail.com and we will find a place in the flock for you.

See you outside soon!

John Koon

Blue Ridge Audubon Chapter

JohnKoonBRAC@gmail.com

Post-Helene Cleanup Workday at Beaver Lake

Saturday, February 22, 10 AM – 12 PM

Although Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary is once again open and the boardwalk accessible, much work remains to be done to ensure that the area has the best opportunity for a healthy recovery. Most immediately, we have lots and lots of down limbs and log segments around the sanctuary. While we want to keep much of this woody material in the area (it's great for birds like wrens and woodpeckers!), we need to move a good bit of it around for accessibility or regeneration optimization reasons, and other material we will use to mulch for our trails. 

We hope to accomplish much of this on our Work Day Saturday, February 22, starting at 10:00am. Dress for outdoor work and bring work gloves if you have them. We will provide most of the tools (although if you have a good wheelbarrow we could use a few more) as well as refreshments and coffee! If you have questions, email us at blueridge.volunteer@gmail.com. Hope to see you out at the Sanctuary!  

Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary, 1056 Merrimon Ave, Asheville, NC

Bird Flu

by John Koon



You may have seen the announcement that waterfowl at Lake Julian have recently died from avian flu. This disease has been widespread in North America this winter, greatly affecting both wild and domestic birds, and prompting questions as to whether people should be taking down their feeders. Thus far, however, the most affected groups of birds have been waterfowl and poultry, and the smaller songbirds have not been as susceptible. At present, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has not issued any recommendations to remove your feeders--and we are not aware of any other authority that has issued such recommendations. The only exception is if you raise domestic chickens or other poultry, in which case it is recommended to remove songbird feeders from the vicinity of your poultry flocks. And as for bears at your feeders--well, every owner in our area will have to assess that risk for themselves!



iNaturalist at Beaver Lake

by Paula Caycedo

I am volunteering for Bee City Asheville, and this year, they asked me to work for their Pollinator-friendly Habitat Certification Program. Our Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary is certified.

As a strategy for documenting and understanding the biodiversity associated with the certified habitats, I am exploring using an app called iNaturalist. For those who don't know about it, it is a global citizen science project to document biodiversity and help identify any living thing you have in a picture. This massive amount of data is ultimately used to resolve scientific questions. 

We recently created an iNaturalist project for Beaver Lake. To my great surprise, we are huge! 339 people have made observations at Beaver Lake. We have identified 791 species through 3245 observations. The Beaver Lake iNaturalist project is included in an Umbrella project for Certified Pollinator Gardens, Bee City Asheville. Beaver Lake is the best-documented habitat for the program. We invite you to take a look and consider participating!

iNaturalist observations at Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary

Asheville Butterfly Trail station at Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary

by Paula Caycedo

Blue Ridge Audubon recently agreed to host an Asheville Butterfly Trail station at Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary. The educational sign and website for this station will emphasize that 90% of terrestrial birds rely primarily on butterfly and moth caterpillars to feed their young and as one of the leading energy sources needed during migration flights. We are currently seeking a sponsor for this station.

Bee City USA-Asheville launched the first Butterfly Trail station in August 2024 at the Asheville Visitor Center, thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. The installation features 8-foot-tall Eastern Tiger Swallowtail wings, inviting visitors to pose as butterflies for photos. An interpretive sign next to the wings offers information about the butterfly's natural history and encourages guests to learn more by visiting the Trail website.

The second station (the Gulf Fritillary) was installed at Reems Creek Nursery in September, thanks to the Nursery's sponsorship. Every station will encourage guests to sign the virtual guest register, download materials, and post their photos on social media. The primary objective is to inspire awe for pollination ecology, encouraging more individuals to plant native species and avoid pesticides, thereby conserving our biodiversity.

The third station, dedicated to the Common Buckeye butterfly, was recently installed along the greenway in front of the University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA). Two women honored their parents by contributing $5,000 each for the interpretive sign and website associated with the station. Each trail station costs $15,000, which covers design, production, installation, stewardship, and insurance fees. Their donations, along with a $5,000 grant from the Glass Foundation, fully funded the station's expenses. The goal is to install at least 10 stations featuring native butterflies throughout Buncombe County as additional funds are raised.

Bee City USA-Asheville, a nonprofit organization under the fiscal sponsorship of Asheville GreenWorks, welcomes donations made in honor or in memory of a loved one. When a single donation, or a collection of donations, totals $5,000, the names of the honored loved ones will be recognized on the interpretive sign at the butterfly trail station and on our website.

Butterflies represent metamorphosis and hope. The monarch butterfly is even believed to embody deceased loved ones visiting on the "Day of the Dead" in Mexico. Please contact info@beecityasheville.org if you would like to discuss a business sponsorship or an individual donation for the Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary butterfly station. 

February brings us our first returning migrating birds. Yes, already!

Let’s explore the eBird reports in February each year since 2016 for Tree Swallow and see if we can predict their 2025 arrival date…

February date of past Tree Swallow first report: 19th, 17th, 16th, 27th, 26th, 28th, 14th, 15th



Prediction: February 20th, 2025

So far, I see no nesting activity at the meadow cavity that has previously been used successfully by Pileated Woodpeckers and Eastern Screech-owls. There is a brand-new Pileated Woodpecker cavity in a tall tree along the far side of the boardwalk. Stay tuned to see how post-Helene breeding in the sanctuary shakes out.

Notable recent sightings at Beaver Lake include Purple Finch and Common Raven.

Images: Tree Swallows by Jay Wherley, Beaver Lake, March 2022 and April 2018

Blue Ridge Audubon is a chapter of the National Audubon Society, serving Buncombe, Henderson, and surrounding counties in western North Carolina.

We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations are

tax-deductible to the extent

allowed by law.

Raven's Nest Editor: 

Jennie Burke

jennifer_bradbury85@yahoo.com

Blue Ridge Audubon Chapter

PO Box 18711

Asheville, NC 28814

Blue Ridge Audubon's mission is to protect birds and the places they depend on. We believe that a world in which birds thrive is a world that benefits all living things.

Our vision is a vibrant and just community where the protection of birds and our natural world is valued by everyone.