NC - Biltmore Estate - Day 5

Today, Jesse, Ruth, Bud and Brian rode up Mt. Pisgah on the Blue Ridge Parkway, 53 miles with 5300’ of climbing. I decided to take a rest day and went birding at the Biltmore Estate.

Not surprisingly, the view from the estate is lovely.

I did not see any birds right by the Biltmore House itself. However, in the garden, I did see this one bush which was covered with many species of butterflies. I do not know butterfly species, so these identifications are strictly based on Apple’s image lookup. With that caveat in mind, this appears to be a Great Spangled Fritillary. If you happen to know that any of my butterfly IDs are incorrect, feel free to email me.

This seems to be an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

Interestingly, this also seems to be an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. The males are always of the yellow form; however, the females may be yellow or this black, brown and blue form.

This third species butterfly appears to be a Buckeye.

Finally, I actually recognized this last species as a Monarch. Happily, Apple image search actually agrees with me.

While I did not see birds near the Biltmore House, I did see quite a number of species further down the property along the French Broad River. This is an Acadian Flycatcher. It was a new species for my life list.

I saw 32 species of birds today; however, it was a “meh” day from a bird photography perspective. Nonetheless, I will share a couple of images that I like such as this pair of Chipping Sparrows.

I like the simplicity of this Cedar Waxwing photo.

I think that this Eastern Phoebe is cute.

And I will end on this shot of a Bald Eagle.

Tomorrow it is back on the bike.