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Fauna along the Neuse -- Johnston Co.



John Finnegan and I canoed the Neuse R. in Johnston Co., from Smithfield
to Howell Woods yesterday (May 1). We ran into downed trees across the
river and had to portage for about 1/10 mile. The banks are steep and
muddy, adding to problems landing and walking around. And, there is no
official landing at Howell Woods. This is a canoe trip not to be done
again by me -- long, and one too many portages (one is enough).

Birds:
	We had a good variety of things along the river, the most notable
being:
one female Anhinga; probably nests somewhere in the county
several D-c Cormorants
one brood of Wood Ducks, plus a number of other pairs
immature Bald Eagle
3-4 Mississippi Kites
one Turkey
many Spotted and Solitary sandpipers
perhaps 75-100 Am. Redstarts
dozens of Prothonotary Warblers
about 3-4 Swainson's Warblers
ZERO Cerulean Warblers

We were disappointed at not hearing any Ceruleans, hoping there might be
a small nesting population here. Also, the only passerine migrants we
heard were a few B-t Blue Warblers, one B-t Green W., and one Northern
Waterthrush. There were plenty of raptors -- both vultures (not raptors
but glorified storks), Red-tailed and Red-shouldered, Osprey (migrant?),
Barred Owls.

Butterflies:

 We saw a handful of things once we got out and walked some jeep
trails.  I'll not go over the full list, but we did have about 12 Zebra
Swallowtails, my first Black Swallowtail of the year, and my first
Zabulon Skipper of the year.

Dragonflies:

We had a few clubtails flying around our canoe. One landed in front of
me, I made a sketch, and looked it up when I got home. It appears to be
a Banner Clubtail (Gomphus apomyius). Also saw one with an orange club
-- perhaps a Russet-tipped Clubtail (Stylurus plagiatus). Are they
supposed to be flying yet? It flew low over the river. Others were a
number of Swamp Darners (Epiaeschna heros), a few Common Whitetails
(Libellula lydia), and too many Eastern Pondhawks (Erythemis
simplicicollis); the latter were all over the roads at Howell Woods.
(Thousands occur in summer there). Of course, a number of other
clubtails and things were flying over the river that were left
unidentified.

-- 
Harry LeGrand
NC Natural Heritage Program
1615 MSC
Raleigh, NC 27699-1615
(919) 715-8687 (work)
FAX: 919-715-3085
e-mail: harry.legrand@ncmail.net