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Re: Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge



NLJ Sharp wrote:

> I will be taking Thanksgiving off from cooking this year, and was going
> to spend part of the holiday weekend at the Carolina Sand Hills National
> Wildlife Refuge. I am targeting the Red Cockaded Woodpecker as a life
> bird. In the Palmetto Trails Guide it gives the Martin's Lake and Tate's
> Trail Loop Bird walks as the trails to find it. Any tips or tricks would
> be appreciated to help me find this bird. Also, I am happy to have my
> year around pair of Brown-headed Nuthatches and my fall White-breasted
> Nuthatches back in my yard after a two month dry spell on yard birds.
>
> --
> Linda Sharp
> Greenville, SC
> nljsharp@worldnet.att.net

I would respectfully suggest the Croatan National Forest as a good place to
find RCW's. Wherever you go, look for widely spaced mature Long Leaf Pines
with low (less than 10 ft) scrub vegetation nearby. Look at the trees, and
look for a swath of white on one side of the tree. Actually, in most areas
where they are managed, you can look for trees with a painted band around
the base where the Biologists have marked them. The Woodpeckers hang around
these trees, and are said to use the holes to roost in the Winter, and the
area nearby is their foraging ground, as they do not seem to disperse as the
other members of the genus are wont to do. I have been to the Sandhills
Gameland (looking for snakes) and seen the trees marked there, so they
should be there. Also Francis Marion National Forest is a good place.


--
Alex Netherton
The Appalachian Naturalist
Asheville, NC
http://www.appalachian-naturalist.com
mailto:alex@appalachian-naturalist.com

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