With autumn comes the promise of cooler temperatures and a chance to get outdoors and breathe some fresh air.
Stone Mountain State Park is one of my favorite fall destinations. The 15,000-acre park is surrounded by the Thurmond Chatham Game Lands and rises from 1,200 feet at its lowest elevation to 3,500 feet where it reaches the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Habitats range from broad, grassy fields at the lower elevations to riparian habitats along Stone Mountain Creek, Widow’s Creek and the east prong of the Roaring River, to the upland hardwood and pine forests, and the spectacular granite dome for which the park is named.
I often drive along Stone Mountain Creek, stopping frequently to look and listen for birds. The road is paved for the first five miles and gravel for the last mile. With careful observation, you can usually spot a great blue heron standing stock-still in the creek — even in the dead of winter.
In spring and summer, shadier sections of the creeks are good places to find Louisiana water thrushes. These little songbirds, which are actually warblers, nest in the exposed roots of trees that line the streams. But by this time they’ve gone to their winter homes in Central America and the Caribbean islands.
White-tailed deer are abundant and rather tame in the park. The grassy fields where they often browse are also good places to look for flocks of wild turkeys.
Ravens and vultures like to roost on the sheer, rock cliffs of Stone Mountain. Air, warmed by the morning sun, begins to rise by noon. These birds can often be seen soaring on thermal updrafts.
The best way to enjoy the park is by hiking. Stone Mountain has several trails. A few are strenuous, but most are moderate and easily navigated by people of average fitness.
Several kinds of woodpeckers — red-bellied, downy, hairy and pileated, as well as yellow-shafted flickers — are year-round residents, and a few can be found on just about every walk in the woods. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are winter residents and should be showing up soon.
Both white-breasted and brown-headed nuthatches also live here all year, and the red-breasted nuthatch can be found some winters, usually at the higher elevations.
Wolf Rock, Cedar Rock and Black Jack Ridge are moderate trails. It’s easy to combine a good hike with birding. Widow’s Creek Trail is more remote. You are likely to have it to yourself. But this trail, leading to the park’s backcountry, is a little more challenging, and birders should be prepared for a bit of a workout.
Well before winter arrives, several birds that nest farther north but spend winters here will be arriving. Golden-crowned and ruby-crowned kinglets, our smallest songbirds, will show up soon. They are often found in mixed flocks along with chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and pine warblers.
For more information on the park, visit www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/stmo/main.php.
l The Audubon Society of Forsyth County will hold its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Visitor Center of Historic Bethabara Park. The featured speaker will be Bill Conner, a professor at Wake Forest University. He will discuss his research on bats and moths in a Halloween-themed presentation.
Bird’s-Eye View is a joint column by Ron Morris and Phil Dickinson. If you have a birding question or story idea, write to Bird’s-Eye View in care of Features, Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101-3159, or send an e-mail to birding@wsjournal.com. Please type “birds” in the subject line.
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