[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Raleigh CBC results



Hi birders. Finally received reports from all 16 groups that were out on
December 15, 2001. As you may remember it was quite warm, with beautiful
weather and temperatures approaching 60 degrees F. Over 75 participants
surveyed the traditional sites in southern Wake County. In fact, almost
as many birders as species of birds tallied. We totalled 84 species of
birds...our lowest species total since 1970! It wasn't for lack of
effort. We did find some good species: Virginia Rail, White-eyed Vireo,
3 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 2 Sedge Wrens, 3 Pine Siskins and 10 Palm
Warblers. The misses were more noteworthy: Green-winged Teal, Pintail,
Shoveler, Gadwall, Canvasback, Bald Eagle, Herring Gull, Black Vulture,
American Pipit and Baltimore Oriole. There are some likely explanations:
the landfill in southeastern Raleigh closed a few years back so we have
far fewer gulls and vultures; Yates Mill Pond has been re-created after
damage from Hurricane Fran and has not yet receovered its submerged
aquatic vegetation; the beaver ponds at Greenview Pond collapsed and
drained in late summer so the shallows which attracted the dabbling
ducks were dry and the DOT re-configured ponds at that site have yet to
grow submerged aquatic vegetation; and then the situation in the
mainstay Raleigh lakes (Wheeler, Benson, Raleigh, Johnson) continues to
be grim for waterfowl. Water, water everywhere but...hardly a duck in
site. Hydrilla is a noxious introduced aquatic weed that once choked
these lakes, and attracted lots of waterfowl who like to eat it. Exotic
steriled grass carp were introduced to remove the hydrilla, and did
that, but ate everything else as well. There is little for waterfowl to
eat at these lakes and numbers, particularly of diving ducks, have
plummeted in our counts. Wonder what has happened with the rest of the
aquatic ecological system? Is the cure here worse than the illness?
Anyway, it was an enjoyable count with important info, and some
footnotes. Take care.  John Connors @ NC Museum of Natural Sciences