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Sandhills, then Irvin Farm



Hi Carolinabirders,

The DNHS went to the sandhills Saturday. Birds were few, but one person 
saw a Red-cockaded Woodpecker (I heard it), and most of the group had 
great looks at a pair of Bachman's Sparrows, one of which sang for us 
too. These were both near Seventeen Frog Pond, which is frogless at the 
moment due to being almost completely dry. We did find one live Broken- 
Striped Newt; I normally would have left it there, but we found several 
dead ones also in that vicinity, so I transplanted the lone survivor to a 
wetter location... Randy and I also found and photographed a couple of 
Black Widow spiders, each one with an egg sac, under two logs about 3 
feet apart. Our guide, Jay Horne, led us to lots of great plants, 
including Astragalus micheauxi in flower.

Next we visited Scotland Lake. Most of the interest was in the plants 
(Sandhills Milkweed, sundews, etc.) and odonates (already posted to that 
list by Randy Emmitt). Main bird sighting was a Summer Tanager which sang 
in plain view from an overhead pine branch.

Our last stop was the floodplain of Drowning Creek further south. Plants 
again took center stage, particularly the rare native holly Ilex 
amelanchier and the Quillworts, genus Isoetes, members of a group of 
plants that split off the plant evolutionary tree just before ferns 
evolved. I heard a song which I'm almost certain was Swainson's Warbler, 
but never saw the singer (which, of course, only increased my 
conviction). Also had some great close looks at a pair of Prothonotary 
Warblers; I handed my binoculars to a friend, they were hardly necessary 
at a range of 15 feet or so!

Yesterday I took part in the Chapel Hill spring bird count. I was 
assigned to cover Irvin Farm and the nearby section 26. Had a fine day. 
Started at Irvin, after greeting another participant named Dave near the 
Food Lion where I was forced to grab breakfast. The Black-throated 
Green Warbler that Will Cook and I had heard there three weeks ago was 
gone, replaced by several Black-throated Blues and a few American 
Redstarts. Blue Grosbeaks had arrived since then, as had Eastern 
Wood-Pewees, and Indigo Buntings had increased in abundance about 
five-fold! Also heard the ever-popular Kentucky Warbler, but did not see 
it. No confirmed Scarlet Tanagers, but numerous Summers; I think I 
finished with 15 overall. I also heard one call which sounded 
suspiciously like the "Che-bek" of a Least Flycatcher, but couldn't 
visually confirm it... Did visually confirm the Solitary Vireo that we 
had heard but not seen on the previous visit.

Also confirmed nesting for some birds. I walked past one log and flushed 
at least three little brown balls out from underneath: newly fledged 
Carolina Wrens. At another point, an Ovenbird flew in overhead with a 
beak full of insects and paced along a branch watching me, until I 
realized that I was probably near its nest; I scooted away so it could 
feed its young ones, which I hopefully hadn't inadverdently stepped on...

Heard the familiar "tu-whi, tu-whi, tu-whititio!" of the Hooded Warbler 
by the creek. Later on, heard a totally unfamiliar song, sounded more 
like a Veery than anything else; pished out the singer, another Hooded! A 
while later, heard another totally unfamiliar song, vaguely like a hugely 
amplified Redstart; eventually spotted this singer too, which was, you 
guessed it, ANOTHER Hooded! Strange to hear three individuals of the same 
species singing three totally different songs.

Many good non-birds as well. Escorted an Eastern Box Turtle across Jones 
Ferry Road in the morning. Shortly after noon, heard a rustle in the dead 
leaves, and saw a bolt of green; Green Anole, Anolis carolinensis! Seen 
them many times in the sandhills and coastal plain, but this was my first 
Piedmont sighting... Not much later, found a skipper basking on a large 
rock. For once it wasn't one of the baffling duskywings or cloudywings; 
it had three brilliant golden rectangular patches in the center of each 
forewing. Had some white on the edge of the underside of the hindwing. My 
guess is Hoary Edge, Achalarus lyciades; how's that sound? As I was 
leaving the tract, tried to get the dragonflies patrolling the pond in my 
binoculars; on my first try, got instead a big male Broad-headed Skink 
climbing a log on the shoreline. On my next few, noticed that the turtles 
in the pond had red-striped legs and yellow head spots; Eastern Painted 
Turtles?

Took a break for lunch, driving back into Carrboro to visit Bon's 
Barbeque. Then set off for Area 26. Wasn't able to reach the former 
proprietor, Pat Hobson, the previous night for tips, so I mostly drove 
around and down lots of dead-end roads and stopped at places that looked 
(a) promising and (b) like I wouldn't be shot at. Turned up several new 
species for the day, but none unexpected: Eastern Kingbird, Eastern 
Meadowlark, Eastern Phoebe, Field and Chipping Sparrow, Red-winged 
Blackbird, etc. Drove slowly past several lush grassy fields, and stopped 
often, but couldn't come up with any Bobolinks despite what looked like 
great habitat. Also visited Niche Gardens, where I had another Summer 
Tanager and my only Great Crested Flycatcher of the day, among other 
things; also bought my fiance a Jack-in-the-Pulpit... My one concern is 
that, looking at the map on Will Cook's website, I think I went outside 
the count circle boundaries. Oh, well...

Good birding!

Josh


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

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