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Re: Grebe yes; pelican no at Falls Lake



Between 9:15 and 9:45 this morning I had essentially the same list as Josh:
1 Western, 5 Horned and yes, 1 Pied-billed, which was of course the only
bird anywhere near Rolling View. The main attraction was much closer to the
Sandling side and quite a ways to the right of the beach, moving around and
diving a lot, so scan widely and slowly 'til you find it. I too "dipped" on
the pelican, but must admit I was too chicken to stop on I-85. (Probably
would have been braver if I hadn't seen the one at Jordan Lake in '79.)

Good grebing,
Dan Kaplan
Raleigh ->Durham
-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
To: carolinabirds@duke.edu <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Date: Monday, November 12, 2001 1:16 PM
Subject: Grebe yes; pelican no at Falls Lake


>Hi C-birders,
>
>Found time to sneak out to Falls Lake this morning. Around 11:30 AM, I
>spotted the Western Grebe in the usual area, well offshore between
>Rolling View and Sandling Beach. For anyone not familiar with Rolling
>View's layout, the grebe is NOT being seen from the beach with the
>swimming area, on the left-hand side of the peninsula as you drive in; it
>is being seen from the beach adjacent to the boat ramp and community
>center near the end of the main park road. This morning it was just to
>the right of the largest white-sand beach on the far shoreline. Saw only
>one grebe, and even that one was only visible on two of approximately
>five scans of that part of the lake; as Will noted last night, it spends
>more time under the water than on top of it. Not sure what to make of the
>report of three grebes last night. There was an unusual abundance of
>waterbirds around this morning: in addition to the usual cormorants and
>gulls, and the previously reported Horned Grebes (of which I counted
>five), there was a raft of 20 American Coots and a separate raft of six
>unidentifiable dabbling ducks, and a passing motorboat flushed a cluster
>of six birds that appeared to be five Red-breasted Mergansers and a
>smaller, darker bird with no visible field marks, possibly a Pied-billed
>Grebe?
>
>Tried briefly for the pelican with no luck. It was not visible, as of
>noon today, from the I-85 bridge, even with binoculars. The only white
>bird in sight was an apparent Snowy Egret flying over the north part of
>the lake heading south; also saw a Red-tailed Hawk and a Belted
>Kingfisher, both on the powerlines south of the highway. I should also
>add that, although the breakdown lanes on this bridge are plenty wide
>enough to stop safely, they are clearly marked with "EMERGENCY STOPPING
>ONLY" signs; vagrant pelicans probably don't qualify in the eyes of the
>local sheriff, so stop on the bridge at your own risk. This bird may have
>caught a thermal and left town, but may also be feeding elsewhere in the
>lake, so folks who have time should definitely check the spots I
>described yesterday, as well as traditional Falls Lake spots like the
>Cheek Road causeway, the Will Suitt railroad grade, the Hickory Hill boat
>ramp off Redwood Road, etc.
>
>Good birding,
>
>Josh
>
>
>Joshua S. Rose
>Duke University
>Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)
>
>jsr6@duke.edu
>http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/
>