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Viewing Falls Lake rarities; also winter Woodcocks, etc.



Hi C-birders,

Surprised to hear a Red-breasted Nuthatch calling in my friends' suburban 
yard in Durham while I was dog- and cat-sitting yesterday morning. Didn't 
hear it today, instead saw a Cooper's Hawk fly in, perch briefly across 
the neighbor's yard, and leave again. Multitudes of Dark-eyed Juncos 
around. Their yard abuts the back of the parking lot of the ABC liquor 
store on Hillsborough Road, if any Durhamites happen to be shopping there 
and want to check for the nuthatch... My own yard on Ninth Street has 
less action, but a Ruby-crowned Kinglet perched right outside the window 
while I was working on my laptop Friday morning, and of course there are 
White-throated Sparrows everywhere. A few hours at Irvin Farm this 
morning turned up few species, mostly many more kinglets (both types) and 
White-throats, and a couple of migratory-looking Turkey Vultures. Also a 
heap of feathers that appeared to be the remains of a Guinea Fowl from 
the farm next door, with a scat in the middle of the heap that suggested 
a fox or maybe Bobcat.

Rolling View SRA, where the Western Grebe was spotted, is described in 
Wake Audubon's "A Birder's Guide to the Triangle", as well as on Will 
Cook's on-line version at
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/tbg/rollingview.html
Hey Will, guess it needs a little more editing now...

As for that other exciting Falls Lake bird:

On Sun, 11 Nov 2001, sharon funderburk wrote:
> 
> The WHITE PELICAN reported by Ricky Davis this AM was resting
> comfortably on a sandspit directly North of the I-85 bridge over Falls
> Lake at about 12:30 this afternoon.  You do need a scope to make a
> satisfactory determination that what you're looking at is a pelican and
> not a large trash bag, and this is really quite a dangerous spot to haul
> one out and set it up.  If someone knows of a less dangerous vantage
> point for viewing this area, that info would be very useful.

Not having gone up there for a look yet (hope I can do so before dark, or 
maybe tomorrow morning), I can't precisely say. However, I can say that 
right after I-85 crosses Falls Lake, if you exit and turn right on NC 15, 
there's a frontage road on the right leading down toward the lake. From 
the end of this road, well past the locked gate, birders can walk under 
the powerlines that run along the south side of I-85. I've never really 
tried, but it's conceivable that there's somewhere along there to climb 
to the edge of the highway, set up a scope, and scan northwards. There 
was a godwit (Hudsonian, I think) on a sandbar here a year or two ago, 
and the powerline has good sparrow habitat. It's probably a half hour or 
more walk before you'll have any chance (if there is one at all) of 
seeing the pelican.

Alternatively, if you turn LEFT on 15, before too long you can see a dirt 
road leading across the railroad tracks and into the woods. By walking 
this road a short distance, you'll reach the railroad bridge crossing 
Falls Lake north of I-85, presumably also north of the White Pelican's 
last reported position. Depending on how far north of I-85 the sand spit 
is, and where exactly it is, the pelican might be scope-able to the south 
from somewhere along the tracks. This is probably a shorter walk than the 
other spot, and more likely to have a view of the bird, but the view will 
be much more distant. One warning: these tracks are ACTIVE, a train may 
come along (though I've spent hours there without seeing one), so keep 
your eyes and ears open at all times, and don't get *too* distracted by 
the birds. There is ample room to stand to the sides of the tracks as a 
train passes except for one or two short stretches. The raised tracks 
provide views into the tops of trees on either side, and the woods 
leading there usually have Winter Wren, sometimes Rusty Blackbird, and 
other species.

On Sun, 11 Nov 2001, Marsha Stephens wrote:
> 
> Anyone have any idea what woodcocks are up to this time of year? I read that
> they are solitary birds.  Any info would be appreciated.  Thanks,

Mostly, they're up to eating worms. We probably have at least a few 
migrants here from further north; being worm-eaters, they can't survive 
if the ground freezes. And while they may be mostly solitary, I once 
flushed a pair at Penny's Bend in October, so at least some of them hang 
out with others of their kind... And at this point, they'll probably be 
lekking in a month or so.

Speaking of Penny's Bend, I wrote an article on that spot for the Duke 
Chronicle last week. Mostly wrote about plants, but I think I mentioned a 
bird or two. See
http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/story.php?article_id=24199

Good birding; hope to see a few of you at Fall's Lake in the near future. 
Hey Will, guess we have to edit my Rolling View write-up on your web 
site!

Josh


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

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