Quick Details
Spring Birding Excursion!
Logistics: Guests drive a personal vehicle to the meeting location and have the option to carpool once meeting. Guests bring own water and binoculars (3 pairs of loaned binoculars will be available). Reservation required.
About your Guide: Bill has been teaching Western North Carolina zoology for over 30 years. His expertise and humor has made him a favorite instructor at the high school and college level. Bill has an answer to any wildlife-related question! For Bill’s full bio and photo, visit here: https://www.ashevillehikingtours.com/meet-your-guides/
Tour time: Meet your guide at 8:30 am, tour ends around 12 pm.
Price: Your suggested $15 donation goes straight to your expert birding guide. Please consider donating to keep this series sustainable.
Meeting location: *NOTE: GOOGLE MAPS DOES NOT ALWAYS LOCATE THE FOLK ART CENTER CORRECTLY. We meet in the parking lot of the Folk Art Center at 382 Blue Ridge Pkwy, Asheville, NC 28805. Find your guide, Bill, by his white Ford pick-up truck.
Difficulty: Easy forest walk and part driving tour to capture multiple elevations. Expect fairly flat trails with some uneven terrain and incline.
Required footwear: Sturdy tennis shoes or hiking boots
Recommended clothing: Wear multiple layers, including a jacket, as temperatures drop at higher elevations. Bring raingear as needed.
Recommended personal items: Water, snacks, and binoculars if you have them.
Rain policy: Our morning departure helps us avoid the afternoon rains. In case of heavy rain or inclement weather, full refunds are provided.
Gratuity: Never required but always appreciated!
Birding up the Blue Ridge Parkway: Spring Migration to Higher Elevations!
In spring, the “migration floodgates are opening!” Expect warblers, thrushes, orioles, tanagers and other “long distance” species which are staying in the mountains to breed, or passing through. Besides the common spring migrants, we will seek and discuss the common year-round species. Your guide will be local bird expert and zoologist Bill Sanderson. We will seek common species but also an array of migrants and passersby in higher elevation ecosystems, such as heath balds and spruce-fir forests. For Bill’s full bio, visit here: https://www.ashevillehikingtours.com/meet-your-guides/