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Knap of Reeds and Penny's Bend; plus new GA guide and more...



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/