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Knap of Reeds and Penny's Bend; plus new GA guide and more...
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Knap of Reeds and Penny's Bend; plus new GA guide and more...
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Sun, 2 Apr 2000 14:34:51 -0400 (EDT)
- In-Reply-To: <1.5.4.32.20000402185050.0068ebd8@pop.mindspring.com>
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi Carolinabirders,
I and a crew of Dukies took a field trip yesterday to Knap of Reeds Creek
and Penny's Bend. The primary purpose of the trip was to seek rare
wildflowers that require the diabase soils of those two locations, but we
paid attention to all of the creatures we came across, including birds.
I was hoping that migration would have picked up by yesterday, given the
many reports of migration from other states. Alas, the birding was pretty
slow. No raptors (unless you count Turkey Vultures; more on them below),
and the only warblers were species that had arrived previously, although
at least two - Yellow-throated Warbler and Northern Parula - were lifers
for a recent immigrant from New Mexico. I was hoping to hear Prairie or
Prothonotary, but no such luck. The Great Blue Heron colony at Knap of
Reeds was impressive as usual, and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were vocal
everywhere. Along KoR Creek south of the heronry, I heard what sounded
like a flock of over a hundred American Goldfinches, but could not see
them to figure out why they were so concentrated; must have been a good
food source over there somewhere.
The trip was much more interesting for its non-birds. Top wildflower
honors went to the Hoary Puccoon, a grassland species with a few relict
populations in NC from the days when the habitat was much less woodsy; we
found a big healthy patch of them at Knap of Reeds. Penny's Bend was
carpeted with flowers, most impressively the Dutchman's Breeches. We saw
an impressive array of butterflies, dragonflies, and other insects; I'll
post something to the southeastern Odonate listserv about that shortly.
Herps included two (Southeastern?) Five-lined Skinks, a dead Ring-necked
Snake, and two Black Rat Snakes; I was mystified by the abundance of the
latter species at Knap of Reeds until I saw one climbing into one of the
dozens of Wood Duck nest boxes along the trail, maybe the food supply is
better here than elsewhere...
Miscellaneous bird notes:
Apparently, there is a new bird-finding guide to Georgia being published
very soon, should be useful for those Carolinans who live near the border
or who (like me) commute to Florida and other points south and west. See
the companion web site at http://www.gos.org/birdinggeorgia.html
>Alex N. wrote:
>From what I have heard, GHO's nest in old hawk nests, not in cavities,
>as (I think) do also Barred Owls.
I actually have seen one Great Horned Owl nest in a tree cavity; not a
woodpecker hole, but one formed by heartrot and breaking limbs and such.
On the other hand, anyone who wanders by my office at Duke (Bio Sci
building, room 218) will notice a photo on the door from Fort Bliss, NM
of a Hornie and a couple of nestlings on a former hawk nest on a
telephone pole; can't get too much more exposed than that! Another nest
in the same neighborhood was in a former hawk nest atop a Yucca, also
very exposed. And while we're on the subject, visit
http://cumv.bio.cornell.edu/mcgowan/notarave.htm to see what some Ithaca,
NY birders found when checking a traditional Common Raven nest in their
area...
On Sun, 2 Apr 2000, barbara brooks wrote:
>
> Are the
> TVs close enough to raptor shape that they create a reaction from the geese.
I have seen blackbirds and mockingbirds mobbing vultures, so either
vultures do fool some fellow birds, or vultures actually resort to
raiding nests for eggs and chicks on occasion. I suspect the latter.
Among other things, there is some indication that the Zone-tailed Hawk of
the southwest and Mexico is a vulture mimic; its black color, dihedral
wings, and habit of kettling with vultures apparently helps it catch
lizards that don't consider vultures a threat, and so allow the Zone-
tails to approach closer than other raptors before fleeing. If a lizard
can tell a hawk from a vulture, I imagine that a goose should be able to
as well.
Final note: I found this on another listserv. Anyone tried it?
Good birding!
Josh
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Bruce M. Bowman" <bbowman@umich.edu>
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2000 12:53:25 -0500
I post this reminder/suggestion once each year.
For your feeder birds:
GRIT
Don't forget about grit. Your feeder birds will eat more grit than you
could imagine. Just put it in a pile off to the side somewhere.
I've had some queries about grit. What is it?
Grit can be purchased in one- or two-pound bags at some places
that sell bird seed. It consists of small pieces of crushed
rock. The average diameter might be a couple of millimeters.
Birds eat grit to help with their digestion. It goes to the
gizzard, I guess, and stays there a while. The way I understand
it is that the gizzard muscles contract to break up the food that
is there, and the presence of grit assists in breaking up seed,
etc.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/