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Jordan Lake Delights



JORDAN LAKE
JULY 22, 2002


This morning I had what was undoubtedly the best few hours of birding
in my three years in the Triangle Area. Alan Johnston and I decided to
head out to Jordan lake to ferret out the Wood Storks reported there
yesterday. Actually, Alan had already been out upon receiving the
word, but had gone down the wrong arm of the lake and thus come up
empty-handed. I myself had also toyed with the idea of running out,
but got the e-mail too late in the day, which was ultimately
fortuitous since after nightfall I received another from Steve Schultz
reporting the many Stilt Sandpipers he had just seen while out
scouting for the Storks. Now, since I moved to the East Coast three
years ago this had become a nemesis birds--one of those whose very
existence you come to disbelieve with each passing year; this, of
course, being easier than coming to terms with one's incompetence. So,
with countless Stilts, Pectorals and Wood Storks swimming in our
imaginations we stepped out into a dawn which was as breathless as we
were.

It was not yet six but there wasn't the slightest touch of freshness
in the dead air at the Highway 751 bridge when we parked in the gravel
parking lot choked with garbage and walked west towards the lake.
There was, however, plenty of murky haze which initially depressed us
since we could hardly see across the lake, let alone any peeps which
might be feeding in the drying shallows. A tiny, silver fish jumped
frantically out of the lake and lay flopping and gasping on the shore,
and when I flipped it back in I could well imagine how little comfort
it must have drawn from that tepid bathwater. 

But after half an hour the sun began rising sullenly over the far
shore of the lake, and in it we picked out a Grand Assembly--at least
50 Great Blue Herons and even more Great Egrets crouched, hunched,
cowered, and draped on the many snags that poke their crowns out of
the beleagured lakebed. There were Bald Eagles and Ospreys patrolling
the shallow lake arm, and at one point we even scared an immature
Eagle as we rounded a bend. It flew off into the trees as another came
circling from the far shore, flushing the distant shore birds. From
among this chattering flock it selected one--a Yellowlegs--and pursued
it half-heartedly. But the Yellowlegs zigged deftly out of the eagle's
range, and as it flew triumphantly off the Eagle arced over us
panting, its beak open to the stifling air.

At last we came upon a knot of shorebirds feeding, of course, in one
of the farthest reaches of the lake bed. Alan put his powerful scope
on them and the scurrying dots morphed into definite forms--at least
six Pectoral Sandpipers with crisply marked chests which one of them
even puffed up as though to make sure we would not debate its
identity, one dowitcher in breeding plumage that never called and so
will never be identified any further, and lots of Least Sandpipers.
Just as we were taking these in Alan swung his scope around to the
very end of the lake bed which, getting shallower, becomes a grassy
plain; and here, along a channel he found a solitary Wood Stork. It
dwarfed the herons and egrets, fed methodically, and eventually even
flew around to give us great views. 

Just as Alan found the Stork I looked back at the Dowitcher to admire
the rich chestnut of its breeding plumage, and there, where just a few
minutes before had been absolutely nothing else, was a slim and
elegant sandpiper with a downcurved bill and heavy barring on the
belly--The Stilt. Alan quietly busied himself with the scope, while I
danced and then, when Alan was satisfied, we gave each other high
fives. In the meantime Judy Murray and Mike Schultz had also walked up
from the parking lot and so we all had great views at the Stilts
(there were about 5) and compared them easily to the Pectorals,
marvelling at how earthbound the latter seem by comparison. Sibley is
so correct in his observation that the Stilts have to tilt themselves
at a steep angle when feeding because their legs are so long. Further
down the lake bed and closer to the grassy area (but still in the
shallow water) were both Western and Semipalmated Sandpipers, with an
occasional Yellowlegs flying over, several Spotted Sandpipers posing
on the crowns of dead snags and showing off the last of their spots
before they fade into their winter coats, and Solitary Sandpipers
bobbed fussily. 

Behind us in the woods a Yellow Billed Cuckoo called from the depths
of the forest, two Great Crested Flycathchers bemoaned their lot from
on high and were answered by a pert but invisible Acadian. All in all,
41 species which are listed down below, and such a grand assemblage as
I at least have never seen in the Piedmont before. Quite bracing,
despite the weather.


1. Double Crested Cormorant	5
2. Great Egret			50
3. Great Blue Heron		40
4. Wood Duck
5. Mallard
6. Wood Stork			1
7. Osprey				1
8. Bald Eagle			8 
9. Killdeer				100
10. Pectoral Sandpiper		20
11. Solitary Sandpiper		5
12. Sanderling			1
13. Western Sandpiper		3
14. Semipalmated  Sandpiper	5
15. Least Sandpiper			25
16. Spotted Sandpiper		6
17. Lesser Yellowlegs		2
18. Greater Yellowlegs		2
19. Dowitcher sp.			2
20. Stilt Sandpiper			5
21. Mourning Dove
22. Yellow Billed Cuckoo
23. Hairy Woodpecker
24. Downy Woodpecker
25. Red Bellied Woodpecker
26. Yellow Shafted Flicker
27. Great Crested Flycatcher
28. Acadian Flycatcher
29. Blue Jay
30. American Crow
31. Fish Crow
32. Yellow Throated Vireo
33. Barn Swallow
34. Chimney Swift
35. Carolina Chickadee
36. Carolina Wren
37. Blue Gray Gnatcatcher
38. N Mockingbird
39. N Cardinal
40. Indigo Bunting
American Goldfinch




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SHANTANU PHUKAN
Assistant Professor of Indian Literature, Urdu and Hindi
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill