Elizabeth F. Stockwell wrote:
Hi, y'all --=20
Does anyone have any experience birding in North Carolina or know of =20
a similar birdchat group from the Southeast that I can write to? I'm =20
going to visit my parents in Charlotte next week.=20

Liz,

I'd suggest checking out a copy of "Birds of the Carolinas" by Eloise F =
Potter, James F Parnell and Robert P Teulings (1980, UNC Press, Chapel =
Hill) for species accounts.

I don't have a good birding guide for the Charlotte area, but if you get =
to the coast, check out John O Fussell's "Finding Birds in Carteret =
County", which covers the coastal Morehead City/Beaufort/Cape Lookout =
vicinity.

A couple places that I've heard Tarheels talk about near Charlotte have =
been Crowders Mountain and Kings Mountain State Parks and the Carolina =
Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge. The Carolina Sandhills, of course, =
are vegetated with longleaf pine and scrub oak, which is habitat for the =
Red-cockaded Woodpecker (which I have yet to see....), and you might be =
able to get a line on a colony of these birds on one of the State =
Forests (Sandhill or Manchester) or National Forests (Sumter or Francis =
Marion) within a morning's drive of Charlotte.

Good Birding,

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net