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Prairie Boy Does Durham, NC (long)



I thought some of y'all might be interested in a Canadian's account of 
birding the Durham area, and especially since your own Will Cook figures 
prominently.

Prairie Boy Does Durham, NC

"It certainly looks like an avian wasteland," I muttered as I scanned the 
range maps in my field guide with Durham, NC in mind. I was planning to 
spend 6 days there, along with fellow birders Eric Friede (from New Haven, 
CT) and Lynn Berg (from New Brunswick, NJ), at the annual conference of 
the American Theological Library Association (ATLA), and the conference 
schedule was such that we'd have a couple of mornings of birding 
together.

After scanning the excellent weekly checklist of the Chapel Hill (a city 
just south of Durham) Bird Club, I found only a handful of life bird 
possibilities. Mind you, most of these were nemesis birds of a sort: I'd 
missed Kentucky Warbler a few years back at Great Falls, Va., (also during 
an ATLA conference), and had heard and almost seen one in May at Pt. 
Pelee; I'd missed Whippoorwill this year at both Pt. Pelee and in my 
native Regina (it showed up as a vagrant for a couple of hours one 
evening); and I'd had had a couple of almost-sightings of Fish Crow during 
the aforementioned trip to Virginia. Brown-headed Nuthatch, the only 
ABA-area nuthatch I've yet to see, rounded off the list. Via Birdchat, I 
got in touch with Will Cook, a biologist at Duke University (and compiler 
of the above-mentioned checklist) who graciously offered to take us to 
some local hotspots on the 21st and 23rd of June.

We rendez-voused with Will at the gate to Mason Farm near Chapel Hill. 
"This place looks like a rainforest!" I remarked on seeing the lushness of 
the vegetation. For me, at least, it was the first experience of a 
Carolinian forest in Carolina. Will's love of nature and his expertise as 
a birder became apparent from the moment he began to call out the names of 
the vocalizing birds: "Red-shouldered Hawk, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, 
White-eyed Vireo, . . . ." Stopping at the bushes from which the latter 
was calling, he gave a convincing Screech Owl imitation that brought the 
bird out into plain view.

"Common White-tail," he called out a little while later, but it wasn't a 
bird or a deer he was referring to (there were also plenty of the latter 
in the area) but a dragonfly perched on a nearby log. The next one we 
encountered stumped him; he wasn't up on his dragonflies, he confessed. 
Butterflies were another matter: "American Lady-and that's a Little Wood 
Satyr." Further along the trail he also helped us distinguish the birdlike 
vocalizations of tree frogs from the real avian thing.

"Acadian Flycatcher, Carolina Wren, and there's a KENTUCKY Warbler singing 
in the background, let's go in after it!" Following his lead we left the 
trail, bushwhacking our way through hurricane-strewn trunks and branches, 
to near where the sound had originated. I was having a hard time distinguis
hing the warbler's song from that of the wren, but finally got the 
difference in tone and cadence down.

After hearing no vocalizations for a couple of minutes, we concluded that 
our target must have flown off. "Maybe we would've been better to stick to 
the trail," Will mused. Then the singing began again, and Will spotted the 
bird singing on an exposed branch about 10 meters away and about 4 or 5 
meters off the ground: "They sometimes sing from as high as 20 feet up." 
We all got great looks at its head, though it flew off before we could see 
the whole bird in profile. Everything else, including an Eastern Bluebird, 
a Brown Thrasher, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, and a deer that dashed across 
the path directly behind another group of birders, was gravy.

We had an hour or two left, and Will suggested we try for either Yellow-cro
wned Night-Heron and Red-headed Woodpecker or Fish Crow and Brown-headed 
Nuthatch. Realizing that we'd have a chance at the latter two on Saturday 
morning we opted for the former, since the Night Heron was another 
potential lifer for me, and since the woodpecker is always a delight to 
see.

We drove to a waterfowl impoundment about a mile north of the junction of 
Old Mason Farm Road and Highway 15-501. The Red-headed Woodpeckers were 
there-four in all, including two juveniles-as were Great Egrets, Great 
Blue Herons, and a Green Heron. But scan as we might, we couldn't find a 
trace of the Night-Heron. We decided to head back, because it was getting 
on for 10:00 a.m. and our next conference session began at 11:00. Just 
then a crow perched atop a snag (i.e., a standing dead limbless tree 
trunk) went "cah-cah" and, unexpectedly, I had my life FISH CROW. Which 
was just as well because, as it turned out, the bird was a no-show at 
Jordan Lake on Saturday morning.

I woke up the next day with a sore throat. "Oh no, not a cold!" I groaned. 
But then I realized it had come from the Screech Owl imitations I'd been 
practicing during my roommate's absences the day before. That night Eric, 
Lynn, and I returned to the waterfowl impoundment at dusk, figuring we'd 
have a better shot at the mostly crepuscular Night-Heron. The sky was 
heavy and overcast in the aftermath of a thunderstorm, and the smell of 
smoke alerted us to the fact that one of the many snags in the impoundment 
had recently been struck by lightning. That, and the decreasing interval 
between lightning flashes and thunderclaps (combined with my wife's recent 
admonitions about messing with lightning), made me quite uneasy, and so 
the three of us stayed just long enough for a quick scan of the shoreline, 
netting only Belted Kingfisher for our trip list. We then headed for the 
Whippoorwill hotspot Will had pointed out to us that morning, but the trip 
was rendered fruitless by driving rain. Frustrated, though in good 
spirits, we headed back to our hotel. In the parking lot we heard a Common 
Nighthawk, a pretty good bird for these parts, as we later learned from 
Will.

Somehow, despite a power outage during the night, all three of us managed 
to wake up in time for a 4:15 a.m. departure for a 5:00 a.m. rendez-vous 
with Will in Wilsonville, which lies due south of Durham. Will had invited 
us to join him for a breeding bird survey on the west side of Jordan Lake 
near Pittsboro. After picking picking him up and piling into Lynn's rented 
car, we made our way to the first stop. On the way, we spooked a medium-siz
ed owl perched by the roadside, which we concluded (by the process of 
elimination) could only have been a Barred Owl.

The survey consisted of 20 stops along a pre-determined route at half-mile 
intervals. At each we were to close the car doors gently, so as not to 
wake farm dogs, and spend three minutes recording whatever birds we could 
hear or see. At one of the first stops we heard the loud, unmistakable 
call of a WHIPPOORWILL, which was followed a few stops later by that of a 
Chuck-Will's-Widow, giving the three of us a caprimulgid triple-header for 
the trip.

Other significant birds that we saw or heard included Summer Tanager, 
Hairy Woodpecker, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Cooper's Hawk, and Scarlet 
Tanager. I missed a couple of the sightings, since I was the scribe and 
the keeper of the timer (it had to be paused every time a passing truck 
prevented us from hearing bird vocalizations), but I had fun birding by 
ear, and especially at one point when a Chipping Sparrow and a Pine 
Warbler each sang within seconds of one another. I got so that I could 
tell the richer song of the warbler from its more staccato sparrow 
counterpart. Which may come in handy one day, because I'd like to see a 
Pine Warbler in Saskatchewan. Our very small breeding population (in the 
southeastern part of the province) is poorly known because of the 
difficulty in distinguishing its song from that of the abundant Chipping 
Sparrow.

Our route necessitated stops at odd locations (which generated odd looks 
from the locals) along the narrow country road we were following. Once, 
the driver of a passing pickup asked if we were broken down; on another 
occasion, while we were parked in the driveway of a local dairy, a 
Mexican-American security guard, mistaking our binoculars for cameras, 
admonished us not to take photos; and near the end of our route a burly, 
surly, early (7:00 a.m.) denizen of a barbershop hailed us with a menacing 
"S'appenin'?" He rolled his eyes in disgust and disbelief when I responded 
"We're counting birds." (And what were you doing, buddy?)

As soon as I'd finished tallying up sheet number 20 we made for a 
boat-launching ramp at the end of a campsite on Jordan Lake. A few owl 
whinnies by Will brought some very cooperative BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCHES 
close enough for some good looks. They were accompanied by Pine Warblers 
and, on a tree at the shore, a stunning singing male Yellow-throated 
Warbler- my favorite bird of the trip. Over the water we saw an Osprey 
and, in the distance, its nest on the top of a partly-submerged snag.

A brief hike down the abandoned road to the valley that was (in 1983) 
flooded by newly-created Jordan Lake produced great views of a Hooded 
Warbler. Two more were singing nearby, as was a Northern Parula. "Have you 
ever done a big day here?" Lynn asked Will at one point. "Yeah, my best 
total was 100 species I got on a big day in May," he responded. I 
restrained myself from saying "Why don't you come to Saskatchewan; you 
could get . . . ."

Our next stop was a trail that Will thought might harbor the southern race 
of Blue-headed Vireo. It was marked with newly-posted private property 
signs. We vacillated about going further. I had visions of being shot at 
by shotgun-toting good ol' boys. However, on seeing that the signs had 
been signed by the local water authority (and that the worst we could 
therefore expect was a fusillade from super-soakers) we decided to 
proceed. We came up empty, except for the ticks I managed to acquire. 
"Lone Star Ticks," noted Will, "they won't give you Rocky Mountain Spotted 
Fever, but they will give you . . . ." and he proceeded to list a number 
of chronic debilitating diseases that I could acquire from these, well, 
yes, "life bugs".

Will left us at the parking lot of the Indian Point nature trail, 
mentioning that a stop at the lake via nearby Stagecoach Road could 
produce Prothonotary Warbler. After thanking him profusely for his 
generosity, hospitality, and expert guidance we headed off down the trail. 
Hearing a Yellow-throated Vireo call, I tried to draw it into view by 
imitating a Screech Owl, but the vireo evidently recognized my prairie 
accent. We had fun, though, comparing its burry call with that of a nearby 
Red-eyed Vireo. Making our way down to the wildlife viewing platform on 
the lakeshore, we picked out an immature Bald Eagle that was lurking near 
the Osprey nest on the near shore-as well as the Osprey itself. On the 
walk back I noticed a small yellow warbler foraging on a stalk at ground 
level. It turned out to be a stunning male Prothonotary Warbler that ended 
up entertaining us for a couple of minutes with its singing, hawking, and 
gleaning.

We ended up with 76 species heard or seen for the trip (78 if you count 
the Red-winged Blackbird that I missed and the Eastern Meadowlark that 
only Will heard). Not bad, considering that Will had warned us at the 
outset that this was the worst week of the year for species diversity, 
that we saw no gulls or terns (too far from tidewater) and no shorebirds 
except Killdeer-and that we'd seen all of our target species (and pretty 
well all the breeding warblers). Some avian wasteland!

Trip List

Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Mallard
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Killdeer
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Barred Owl
Common Nighthawk
Chuck-Will's-Widow
WHIPPOORWILL
Chimney Swift
Belted Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
FISH CROW
Purple Martin
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Northern Parula
Yellow-throated Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Ovenbird
KENTUCKY Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow



H.D. Sandy Ayer (Mr.)
Director of Library Services
Canadian Bible College/Canadian Theological Seminary
4400 4th Ave.
Regina, Sask., Canada

S4T 0H8

306-545-1515
306-545-0210 fax