The North Carolina Arboretum – a top destination for birding – is proud to host the North Carolina Birding Trail as it celebrates the third and final grand opening of the North Carolina Birding Trail Guide Series with its mountain region trail event on June 25, 2009.

Read more about the best birding spots near Asheville, North Carolina. And get Bird Watching Tips for Asheville.

The celebration marks the official kick-off of the state’s final trail guide, which includes 105 sites west of Interstate 77 approved for the mountain region of the North Carolina Birding Trail. The guide is more than just a map and serves to link great bird watching sites and birders with communities, businesses, and other historical educational attractions.

The NC Birding Trail is a partnership project to establish a driving trail linking great birding sites across the state. Six agencies and organizations are involved in the Birding Trail: NC Wildlife Resources Commission, NC State Parks, Audubon NC, US Fish & Wildlife Service, NC Sea Grant, and NC Cooperative Extension.

The Trail was implemented in three regional components: the coastal plain, piedmont, and mountains. The coastal plain portion of the Trail was completed in 2007 (102 sites). The piedmont portion of the Trail was completed in 2008 (103 sites), and the mountain region will be completed in 2009 (105 sites).

A 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-associated Recreation reported that 47.8 million U.S. residents participated in birding around their home or on trips. More than 71 million Americans spent nearly $45 billion in retail sales on observing, feeding, or watching wildlife in the U.S. in 2006.

As one of the approved sites in the NC Birding Trail Guide, The NC Arboretum is proud to be a part of this program that stimulates visitation to our region and highlights one aspect of the vibrant natural heritage of Western North Carolina. A range of bird species visit the Arboretum year-round, including woodpeckers, warblers, finches, eagles and more than 100 others to date.

The NC Birding Trail also provides a great educational opportunity for all ages and may attract more people to visit the natural places that make North Carolina such a beautiful state in which to live and play. More than 35 states across the U.S. have their own birding or wildlife trails.

In conjunction with the Arboretum’s celebration as an official part of the NC Birding Trail Guide, the Arboretum celebrates the art and science of birds with “H. Douglas Pratt and John C. Sill's BIRDS: The Science of Illustration,” a new exhibit opening May 21 at The Baker Exhibit Center.

The exhibit explores how art and science work together in Pratt and Sill’s artistic illustrations of birds. Pratt is an ornithologist, artist, and photographer as well as Research Curator of Birds at the NC State Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. Sill has worked as a freelance artist and illustrator since 1971 and has been exhibited in highly acclaimed shows and appeared in a number of books and magazines.

Additional exhibit features include:

• A bird nest collection, containing nests and egg replicas of local songbirds.

• An interactive bird song display to test and instruct visitors on recognizing songbirds by vocalizations.

• A habitat match-up interactive mural designed to teach concepts of animal needs and the distinct habitats of local birds in habitats that occur in WNC.

• An illustration table with sketch paper, pencils, erasers and colored pencils.

Discovery Packs containing binoculars for children to check out birds in the gardens are also available for families to enhance their exploration.

“H. Douglas Pratt and John C. Sill's BIRDS: The Science of Illustration” runs through November 1 and is free for members or with parking admission ($6 per personal vehicle).

For more information, see our NC Arboretum Guide.