The

Raven's

Nest

March

2026

Friends,

It may only be early March, but don’t tell that to my yard. The first leaves are breaking buds on many of my bushes. The weeds are growing like, well, weeds. And wood frogs have moved into my pond, laying eggs and making mating calls that are prompting my neighbors to think we have chickens or turkeys in the yard.

Making the daily neighborhood circuit with the dog is not yet yielding any spring migrants, but you can tell spring is nigh by the way the birds are behaving. The morning air is full of cardinals and towhees singing, and Carolina wrens and chickadees scolding. Overhead, a red-shouldered hawk pair is calling and cavorting. And the goldfinches are showing signs of molting into their brilliant yellow summer vests. All of which excites me with the anticipation of spring’s first blue-gray gnatcatcher or blue-headed vireo calling in the forest, harkening the beginning of spring’s grand migratory procession through the Blue Ridge.

Blue Ridge Audubon has a great line-up for the spring. It starts Wednesday, March 25 with a Photographer’s Night at UNCA’s OLLI center. I am more of a birder than a bird photographer (although I occasionally take a great picture–see the barred owl picture on the inset!), but we are blessed to have a number of very talented nature photographers in the area, and usually they have some great stories to go with their magnificent pictures. So I hope you can join us for a fine evening of discussion of birds, birding and bird photography. We will even kick it off with a social hour to start–doors will open at 6pm with light refreshments before the program itself starts at 6:30.

April will bring many birding outings including our regular set of Saturday Outings. We have decided to make the third Saturday Outing at Lake Julian for the rest of this year–and please note that we meet not in the park but in the parking lot behind Wild Wing Cafe on Long Shoals Road. We will also be helping out the Swannanoa Valley Museum again this spring with their History is for the Birds outings series, if you want a taste of local history with your bird outing. And then of course our annual Beaver Lake Celebration will be on Sunday, April 26.

I hope that you can join us for some of our many outings this spring. Be sure to check the calendar to see what is coming up. The birds await you!

John

Join UNC Asheville's English Department for the Spring 2026 Goodman Endowed Visiting Writer Lecture, featuring a reading by nonfiction writer and UNC Asheville alum Leigh Ann Henion. The event takes place on March 17 at 6:00 pm in the Highsmith Student Union's Blue Ridge Room. (This is a rescheduled event from January) This event is free and open to the public. Please visit the UNC Asheville Visitor Parking Permit Registration site at to obtain a temporary parking permit. 

Henion is the New York Times bestselling author of Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark and Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World. Her work has appeared in Smithsonian, National Geographic, The Washington Post, Backpacker, The American Scholar, Garden & Gun, and numerous other publications. She is a former Alicia Patterson Fellow, and her work has been supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Henion lives in Boone, North Carolina.

Nature Photography Night

Sharing our favorite photos and stories from 2025

Wednesday, March 25, 6 pm

UNC Asheville

Please join us for this night of fun and photography! Due to inclement weather we had to postpone our Nature Photography night, originally scheduled for January 28th. Our new date is Wednesday, March 25. We have some excellent photographers lined up!

Please join us from 6 - 7:30 pm at UNC Asheville's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) in room 102. We'll have refreshments at 6 and then we'll get to the photos at 6:30.

Goldfinch on Sunflower, Biltmore Estate

By Alan Lenk

Visitors are required to register their vehicles to park on campus. Please visit the UNC Asheville Visitor Parking Permit Registration site at to obtain a temporary parking permit. For more information please contact Kevin Burke at birdingburke@gmail.com.

Reimagining Owen Park: Community Invited to Workshop

Owen Park

by Charlotte Moon

Monday, March 30, 6 pm

Owen Middle School Gym

Buncombe County Parks & Recreation is inviting residents to share their vision for Charles D. Owen Park. Co-sponsored by Swannanoa Grassroots Alliance, this initial community meeting will take place on Monday, March 30, 6-8 p.m., at Owen Middle School gym.  

Owen Park in Swannanoa was devastated by Tropical Storm Helene and has been closed since the storm due to damage – but that’s not the end of its story. Through conversations and hands-on activities with staff and project designers, this workshop will allow the community to share its history with the park, tell us its recreation needs in the present, and discuss opportunities for the next chapter.  

The evening will begin with a brief presentation by Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architecture, the design team for the project, but participants are welcome to drop in anytime from 6 to 8 p.m. Spanish-language interpretation will be available. 

Additional input opportunities for this stage of the project will be added to the project page. An online survey will also be shared for those who cannot attend in person. Be the first to know by subscribing for updates on the project page. 

Annual Report

by John Koon and Paula Caycedo

Blue Ridge Audubon Chapter thanks all members and supporters for their generosity. Please see our Annual Report to see what your contributions helped fund in 2025!

Chapter Day

by Charlotte Moon

BRAC board members, John Koon, Charlotte Moon and Heather Brannon with Curtis Smalling, Executive Director of Audubon North Carolina.

representatives from affiliated chapters in North Carolina gathered together

Audubon NC held its annual Chapter Day in Winston-Salem in mid-February. The event was hosted by Forsyth Audubon, and I was pleased to be able to attend along with John and Heather representing BRAC. The gathering drew representatives from affiliated chapters all across the state to hear about statewide outreach efforts, advocacy projects, fundraising, and other challenges and success of individual chapters. Members of Audubon NC leadership were there to give updates as well. The conversations and exchanges of ideas were inspiring and motivating!

On behalf of BRAC, our team presented the history, usage, and challenges of Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary, the successes and ongoing creative expansion of our annual Birdathon, and the opportunities for advocacy in our local region with which we will be engaging. Despite the rain-out of a scheduled bird walk to coincide with Backyard Bird Count weekend, it was a very worthwhile way to spend a day with passionate champions of birds from throughout the state of North Carolina.

Always looking for new volunteers!

by John Koon

Blue Ridge Audubon Chapter is always looking for new volunteers to help out with Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary and a number of other birdy opportunities. Some of the things we are looking for help with this year are educational volunteers to share their love of birds with kids at summer camps and on field trips to Beaver Lake; representing Blue Ridge Audubon at various festivals and events; helping advocate for bird conservation and related topics with our elected representatives at Audubon Advocacy Day; and helping manage our website and social media. Remember: we have no paid staff and are completely a volunteer organization! If you are interested in helping out, check out our Volunteer Page on the website.  

The Nominating Committee is also looking for a few qualified personnel to help lead the organization by joining the Board of Directors. Particular roles we are looking for are management of the Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary, a director of Programming, and a Director of Advocacy. IF you are interested in joining the board, please email johnkoonbrac@gmail.com to express your interest.

Thanks for helping out in whatever ways you can. It’s contributions like yours that help make this organization a special one for birds and people.

New Data Reveals Golden-winged Warbler Migration Mysteries

Audubon and partners pioneered how we study Golden-wings. The data is still contributing to our understanding of these unique birds.

by Brittany Salmons

Golden-winged Warbler. Photo: Rick Nirschl/iNaturalist CC BY-NC 4.0

Every spring and fall, Golden-winged Warblers undertake a perilous, nonstop journey across the Gulf of Mexico. For a bird that weighs about as much as two nickels, this 800 mile overwater crossing is a high-stakes gamble that leaves no room for error.

A new scientific study by Audubon and many partners sheds fresh light on how these warblers decide when to make that leap, and what a changing climate could mean for their future. 

Researchers analyzed geolocator data from 89 Golden-winged Warblers, some of which we helped tag in North Carolina starting in 2013. We wanted to understand how weather conditions around the Gulf of Mexico influenced the crossing of these tiny warblers during migration. 

A perilous journey 

Golden-wings begin moving south in September, flying straight across the Gulf of Mexico to Central and South America. The geolocator backpacks we specially designed for them have gathered data from these cross-continent, thousand-mile-long journeys so we know the exact route these birds take.

The light-level geolocators on the birds' backs estimate their location by using a light sensor and internal clock to identify sunrise and sunset. That data is then used to calculate latitude and longitude and develop a migration pathway for each individual bird. 

Researchers found that the movement of Golden-winged Warblers across the Gulf of Mexico is different from spring to fall and could be negatively impacted by severe weather conditions. This is especially true in the spring, when birds are returning to their breeding sites. 

Research Grant Deadline

Are you a college or graduate student interested in bird conservation? Do you have a research project in mind? Do you need money? If yes, you can submit a proposal to BRAC for up to $2,000 in funding! Deadline for this cycle is Friday, April 10th. See https://www.blueridgeaudubon.org/grants for more information.

The Great Blue Heron: Witness at the Water’s Edge

by Sepala Weliwitigoda

Across the bay, a kayak split the mist.

A heron, cloaked in cobalt reverie,

stood still as time upon a granite stone.

One leg tucked tight, the other poised in thought,

its eye fixed on the glassy, dimpled tide.

He waited—not for fish, but for the breath

of something deeper, surfacing at last—

a truth too slow to rise, too sharp to flee.

The river held its secrets just below,

while fog returned to swaddle what we know.

The Great Blue Heron often appears motionless in shallow water—focused, poised between patience and movement. To encounter a heron in this state is to feel the pace of solitude: space to breathe, to meditate, and to ponder thoughts and ideas carried quietly within. For a moment, the world slows, as if attention itself has been invited—or granted.

The life of the Great Blue Heron is inseparable from water. It depends on healthy wetlands—quiet shorelines, floodplains, estuaries, and shallow rivers where fish and amphibians remain abundant and waters retain ecological balance. Because of this reliance, the heron has long been regarded as an indicator of environmental health. Where herons thrive, wetlands are often functioning well. Where they disappear, the loss usually signals deeper disruption long before it becomes obvious elsewhere.

Yet the heron’s significance extends beyond biology.

Across many ancient cultures, herons were regarded with reverence long before modern science provided explanations for natural systems. In Indigenous traditions across North America, herons were associated with wisdom, patience, and self-reliance; their presence often signaled abundance and the assurance of sustenance. In ancient Egypt, herons were linked to the soul and the passage between worlds. In Chinese and Japanese art, folklore, and literature, they appeared as emblems of balance, longevity, purity, and the ability to move between elements—water, earth, and air.

These traditions were not grounded in data, but in sustained observation and lived experience with the natural world. Reverence fostered social cohesion and psychological steadiness at a time when nature’s uncertainty could not be explained scientifically. The heron’s quiet self-reliance served as an example to individuals and families facing sickness, scarcity, and despair—particularly in the production and gathering of food.

Today, science has given us extraordinary insight into how ecosystems function and why species like the Great Blue Heron depend on ecologically sound wetlands. What science cannot compel, however, is care. No legislation or dataset can require people to notice a bird standing at the water’s edge, or to feel responsibility for the habitat that sustains it. Laws can protect wetlands, but their effectiveness ultimately depends on human behavior—on attention, restraint, understanding interdependence, and a willingness to coexist thoughtfully with other forms of life.

As wetlands deteriorate through development, pollution, and climate-driven change, herons often respond quietly. Their absence can speak as clearly as their presence. In this way, the Great Blue Heron becomes both witness and messenger, revealing change not through alarm, but through silence.

Perhaps what is needed now is not a return to ancient belief, but a rational reverence—a way of seeing informed by science and experience, guided by respect. Modern knowledge can explain why wetlands matter; reverence gives us reason to care. Together, they offer a framework for stewardship that serves birds, forests, waters, and people alike.

To watch a Great Blue Heron fish is to observe patience as survival. Nothing holds its attention except the present moment. Nothing is rushed. In that quiet discipline lies a lesson. When we learn to notice the heron clearly, we may also begin to notice the health of our wetlands—and our own responsibilities—more honestly. Care, like balance, begins with attention.

Sepala Weliwitigoda is a poet and nature writer whose work reflects on birds, wildlife, and environmental awareness through close observation of the natural world. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and previously worked as a communications law and policy advisor. His essays on birds and conservation have appeared in several Audubon and bird-alliance newsletters and blogs, and he is the author of the poetry collections Listen to the Songbirds and Cat the Sovereign.

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.