Get outdoors
Every Wednesday, year-roundApr–Oct 9–11 am · Nov–Mar 10 am–noon
A great birding venue with a nice variety of birds through the seasons. HCAS members lead the walk along paved, easily walked trails.
Valle Crucis Community Park
2892 Broadstone Rd, Banner Elk, NC 28604
First Saturday of every month8–10 am · rain or shine
Guy McGrane leads a loop down the greenway and around the sparrow fields — about a mile — through the New River's wet prairie floodplain.
Brookshire Park, Boone
250 Brookshire Rd, Boone, NC 28607
Field trip · One time only
Jan 8–11, 2027
We are going birding in the OBX Jan 8–11. Leaving Jan 8th, stopping at Pungo NWR & Alligator River NWR before continuing on to Nags Head. We will hope that Rt 12 will be open by then, so that Saturday & Sunday we can explore the OBX, including Pea Island.
Debbie and Jimmy Shetterly will head a carpool/caravan for all who want to join us. Depending on the weather forecast, Wes and Sheryl may stay at Oregon Inlet Campground. Otherwise, we usually stay at the Comfort Inn, South, in Nags Head. If enough people want to go, we may be able to get a group rate for rooms. We need to know by the end of November.
Waterfowl to look for in January. Photo credits
Coming up
Dates update themselves. Weather or schedule changes go out on the HCBirders Google Group.
What we saw
Every walk's sightings go into eBird. Tap a walk to see the full list of birds we found.
Christmas Bird Count
Audubon's Christmas Bird Count is the nation's longest-running community science project. Each count covers a circle 15 miles across; every able-bodied person who likes wildlife is welcome.
Field trips
Some trips are a morning, some are overnight, and at least once a year we head out of the area for a few nights — the Outer Banks, Lake Mattamuskeet, even Florida. Trips are often timed for school breaks so families can come.
Be a considerate birder: on HCAS walks we never use playback during breeding season — it pulls birds away from raising their young.
Bird on your own
Our members mapped the best birding sites in all five counties — from Price Lake and Beacon Heights to Kerr Scott Reservoir and Stone Mountain. Tap a marker for species, access and parking.
