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Another spring arrival in the Triangle



Hi Carolinabirders,

We had a field trip today in honor of visiting speaker Richard Lewontin, 
a famous evolutionary biologist. Took him first to Occoneechee Mountain, 
then to West Point on the Eno, then to Penny's Bend. Had my eyes peeled 
for migrants, but saw few. In fact, the only 100% certain migrant we 
found was a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, which was foraging just below the 
rangers' house at Occoneechee. We also found a Blue-headed Vireo a little 
ways up the road from there; many folks have been referring to this as a 
migrant, but they actually winter here in small numbers, so it's harder 
to tell...

Otherwise, things still look like winter. The only warblers were Pine at 
Occoneechee and Yellow-rumped at West Point; the butterbutts aren't even 
molting noticeably into breeding plumage yet. Did see another high-flying 
unidentified accipiter here that might have been migrating, and 
suspiciously large numbers of Eastern Phoebe. But also saw Yellow-bellied 
Sapsucker there, and Dark-eyed Juncos at Occoneechee, and White-throated 
Sparrows at Penny's Bend, and kinglets of both types all over the place. 
We didn't even see leps, which was disappointing after Randy Emmitt saw 
loads of them at Occoneechee on Saturday; our only one was an Anglewing 
of some kind at Penny's Bend. The main signs of spring were in the 
wildflowers, particularly the Dutchman's Breeches at Penny's Bend and the 
Trailing Arbutus and wild ginger (Hexastylus spp.) at Occoneechee.

Good birding,

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/