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Jordan Lake/Chatham County spring count; lists growing



Hi C-birders,

Last night, just before dinner, heard a Common Yellowthroat sing from the
neighbor's shrubby side yard. Then this morning awoke to a Blackpoll in
the big oak trees. Species #48 and 49 for my lame-duck Ninth Street yard
list; if Dan had sent those Anhingas my way (we're on the edge of the
Watts-Hillandale neighborhood he mentioned), I'd have reached the 50-
species mark by now... But still have two weeks before we close on the new
place, and another week or two of moving, before we leave Ninth.

Seems to be a big push of American Redstarts and Black-throated Blue
Warblers going on; heard them in the Duke Gardens and again in the little
old-growth woodlot next to Duke's Bryan Center this morning. Wood Thrush
also in the gardens and on Central Campus but not in the usual Bryan
Center spot yet. Great Crested Flycatchers by the Bryan Center and the
main quad.

Also noted a big flock of Cedar Waxwings and a few American Robins going
nuts on a mulberry tree on central campus. The new house on Lynch seems to
have several mulberry saplings there. Wanted to make sure that everybody
here knows that White Mulberry (Morus alba) is another of those invasive
exotic species that should *never* be planted, and should be removed if
it's in your yard already, no matter how much your common yard birds like
it. It's a threat to native ecosystems and to plants needed by much rarer
bird species. Red Mulberry (M. rubra) is a native species that is just as
attractive to birds, maybe more so, without the threat to the rest of the
ecosystem. Make sure the whites are gone before planting the reds though,
to prevent disease transmission and hybridization.

Back to my subject line: spent yesterday morning doing the Jordan Lake
spring bird count. Was accompanied by Bill and Margaret Dunson, two out-
of-town birders (from PA or FL, depending when you ask them) who were
visiting their son in Chapel Hill and wanted to bird. Delightful company.
I was a little unsure of our assignment, area 11, as it was most birding
along roads through private property, but it turned out to be great fun
with a couple of places to leave the car and hike. Fun started with a few
Bobolinks, which turned out to be my long-awaited NC species #300! Kind of
anticlimactic to get Bobolink as #300 after seeing Green-tailed Towhee,
Great Cormorant, Eurasian Wigeon, and Calliope Hummingbird for 296-299,
but I've always like Bobolinks...

Other highlights: a big flock of swallows hawking over the farm pond
across the road from Olive Chapel: mostly Barn (nesting nearby), at least
one Tree, unconfirmed possible Rough-winged. Second-year Orchard Oriole
singing at the other pond behind the chapel. Along Beaver Creek, saw one
Northern Waterthrush and heard another, heard two Kentucky Warblers and a
Louisiana Waterthrush. Along the Beaver Creek Wildlife Impoundment, had a
brief but exciting look at a silent Kentucky, heard a Yellow-throated
Vireo, saw a fly-over Pileated Woodpecker, and got the Dunsons their first
really good look at a Blue Grosbeak. Numerous singing Ovenbirds, Hooded
Warblers, and Indigo Buntings in various locations. A Belted Kingfisher
carrying food, which we eventually figured out was probably headed for an
unseen nest burrow along a steep roadside bank next to our idling car (we
moved as soon as we figured that out). Also 9 butterflies and skippers, 8
dragonflies plus one damselfly, and a few fern species that I don't see
every day (like Royal Fern, Osmunda regalis).

Good birding,

Josh


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

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