Whitewater Whirl

Hello and happy May! I'm in North Carolina right now and am enjoying a very relaxing afternoon. Last weekend we played at Whitewater Whirl in West Virginia and had a fantastic time. Beautiful location, wonderful weather, great friends, good hall, sound and food. What more can you ask for? Here are some pics...

A bunch of friends; several of whom I remember the names of...Announcements always take so long at dance weekendsTravis and Loretta - always great to see you. I'm so excited you'll be coming to the party! Thanks for the burgers. The New River Gorge

Over the weekend I had a couple brief opportunities to get out birding with Frank Clayton. On Sunday morning we hiked along the New River Gorge for a couple hours looking for southern warblers. On our way in we heard a distant SWAINSON'S WARBLER (Life Bird) but I really wanted a look at the bird before I added it to my list. It wasn't easy. We stalked it for a long time through think brush (mostly rhododendron), often on hands and knees trying to get a look. Several times we got extremely close but the bird would fly to a different area before we could get on it. Finally we did end up getting some decent looks at the bird, singing and foraging on the ground. It was subtly beautiful and totally unique looking bird; worth every bit of the effort. I wasn't able to get any photos but you can find out more about this secretive species here.