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New Hope Audubon trip to Raleigh Lakes 1/26/02



New Hope Audubon had a successful trip to some Wake County, NC 
waterfowl hot spots on Saturday, January 26. The weather was perfect, 
though quite foggy at Lake Crabtree in the morning. Highlights, by 
location, with approximate numbers... (Note that I am presuming 
Scaups to be the more commonly found Lessers.)

Lake Crabtree: 20 Lesser Scaup, 10 Ruddy Ducks, 1 Ringneck, 1 Coot. 
Oh yes, some Canada Geese, of course. Land birds included a very tame 
Hermit Thrush foraging on the jogging trails near the boat rental 
facility, and a beautiful male American Kestrel hunting along the wet 
fields of the lake shore.

NCSU Dairy Pond: (Therea are quarantine signs all about. We drove up 
to the office, which sits on a hill above the pond. One of the staff 
there said it was no problem to set up our scopes in the parking lot 
and view the pond from there. This was quite good viewing.) 15 
Shovelers, 20 Bufflehead, 10 Lesser Scaup, 6 Ring-necks.

Yates Millpond: Nothing, nil, zip, nada.

Lake Wheeler, Penny Road causeway: 150 or more Ruddy Ducks quite 
distant west of the causeway, near the far shore. There were also a 
few Pied-billed Grebes mixed in with them, and possibly some Hooded 
Mergansers. We didn't see a thing to the east of the causeway.

Lower West Lake Pond: 20 Hooded Mergansers, 10 Ring-necked, 1 
Bufflehead. The Hoodies seemed very sedate and cautious--the males 
kept their crests flattened.

Upper West Lake Pond: 20 American Wigeon (males and females), 10 
Buffleheads (mix of male and females), and 3 lovely male Canvasbacks. 
We got to watch this group at very close range in perfect light. It 
was great to see the bright yellow eyes of the Ring-necks and the 
Canvasbacks. The Bufflehead were very active, periodical squealing 
and giving courtship/aggressive displays, and then diving.

Thanks to all you Carolina Birds people who gave me advice on the 
latest sightings in Wake County. Unfortunately, we did not have time 
to try Harry LeGrand's suggestion of Big Lake at Umstead State Park, 
accessible by a hike from the US-70 entrance. (Thanks for the 
directions, Harry--I'll keep those on file.)

As always, watch for upcoming New Hope Audubon trips and events on 
our web site. Guests are always welcome.
-- 

Patrick Coin (patrick@coinconsult.net)
web master , field trip chair
New Hope Audubon Society
P.O. Box 2693
Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2693
http://www.newhopeaudubon.org/