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3 Dickcissels and 2 WAVIs in Orange Co.



The Warbling Vireos at Anilorac Farm on Dairyland Road were singing away 
this morning at 7:30 and at least through 10 am.  There are two singing 
males, one on each side of the road.  There may also be a female.  New 
Triangle area bird for me and only the third and fourth reports for the 
county.  The second county report was at the same location on 4/29/99.
The WAVIs are in trees in the front yards of the houses near the Anilorac 
sign.  There's plenty of parking here, which is fortunate, because there 
was a good-sized crowd of birders there.  

A short walk further along Dairyland on the right, the big Bobolink flock 
was in the same place as seen by the Enders.  Perhaps 150-200 noisy birds. 
The Dickcissels were further on still, about 0.4 mile from the Anilorac 
farm house and before the next house.  There were two males singing away 
from the power lines and the tops of bushes as well as a silent female.   
These three are the first ever reported in Orange County that I know of. 
There is a breeding record for Jordan Lake area (in 1980) -- maybe they'll 
stick around. Dickcissels and Warbling Vireos are known for singing all 
day long, so you may not need to get there first thing in the morning.

There were plenty of Grasshopper Sparrows all along the road, singing from 
the tops of Dock flowering stalks.  Also a few Savannah Sparrows and 5 
American Pipits still around.

This area is along my mini-Breeding Bird Survey route -- I hope they stick 
around!  Last year in June I saw an adult male Baltimore Oriole on my stop 
just before the Anilorac farm. It's a great area for birding.

At Cane Creek Reservoir, Alan Johnston and I found another large noisy  
Bobolink flock (perhaps 100) in the field outside the "service entrance".  
We saw about 5 Am Coots on the lawn and picked out a couple of Cliff and a 
couple of N Rough-winged Swallows from amongst the Barns.  The highlight, 
though, was a couple of baby Red Foxes near a culvert that apparently 
served as their den.  They "barked" at us a little at first, but 
eventually got used to us and we watched each other for a long time.

Great morning!


-- 
Charles W. "Will" Cook                w 919-660-7423
cwcook@duke.edu                       h 919-967-5446
Duke University Botany Dept., Durham, North Carolina
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook