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On the way to Beaufort, water in the snow, and obnoxious finches
- To: Carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: On the way to Beaufort, water in the snow, and obnoxious finches
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 17:40:01 -0500 (EST)
- In-Reply-To: <Pine.SOL.3.91.1000124221427.25672F-100000@bio7.acpub.duke.edu>
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
On Mon, 24 Jan 2000, George & Judy Halleron wrote:
>
> Anyone else know good places on I 26?
The Orangeburg Sod Farms are off of I-26, and might be worth a visit in
the winter. None of the shorebirds that occur there in migration will be
present, but sod farms further west (including, unless I'm mistaken, the
ones in Hendersonville NC) often attract wintering tundra breeders like
Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs. Horned Larks are probably there
somewhere, and almost certainly a variety of raptors. I visited
Orangeburg for the first time on my way home from Guadeloupe on December
31 (never got around to finishing that story...). Unfortunately, the
office was closed for the holidays, and I did not want to drive into the
fields without permission. I birded from the edge of the fields, and from
the road through an adjacent construction site where it looked like an
office building was going up. Highlights were a Loggerhead Shrike, a
Northern Harrier, and a staggeringly large flock of Savannah Sparrows (at
least 50, probably more than twice that). Gee, those HBSP longspurs last
winter were hanging around with a flock of Savannahs, weren't they?
I'm afraid I have too much work to make it to Beaufort next weekend, the
furthest afield I can hope for is the Butner Gamelands. Or maybe I'll buy
some crickets at the petstore and go see if the PS Flycatcher is hungry.
Y'all have fun without me...
Back here in Durham, once I dumped the ice out of my birdbath and
replaced it with water, it was more popular than it ever has been, even
in the heat of the summer! Everyone should remember that birds don't seem
to get the idea of eating snow for water, so that with all the liquid
water frozen, thawing out your birdbaths could be very important, and
may bring some new species to your yard during our unprecedented white-
washing.
Like everyone else, I had a flurry of activity this morning around the
feeders. A huge mob of obnoxious American Goldfinches moved in and took
over the cylinder feeders, chasing off the usual Chickadees and Titmice
that tried to visit; the usuals had to settle for the hopper feeders,
which for some reason didn't draw the Goldfinches nearly as much.
Yesterday's Purple Finch, one of the few species not intimidated by the
Goldfinches, returned with another male and maybe a female (didn't see
her too well). Also, my yard's first Fox Sparrow showed up. However, the
Pine Siskins, which were feeding in the Sweet Gums above the yard months
ago, still have yet to discover the feeders, and I remain jealously
lacking Red-breasted Nuthatches.
Good birding,
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/