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The Jordan Lake count and the Triangle Birder's Guide
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: The Jordan Lake count and the Triangle Birder's Guide
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 19:35:21 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi Carolinabirders,
Not sure how many other folks use the Triangle Birder's Guide, at
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/tbg/index.html, regularly. Well, this past
Sunday, I was assigned to cover the Hank's Chapel-Gum Springs Church Road
area. At first, Will Cook was assigned as my partner, but (as you might
have noticed from his post) he was later pulled away and assigned to
Seaforth and vicinity.
This left me covering a site which I had never visited, not knowing which
spots were most likely to have birds. So I checked the TBG, and found
that Will had written up a page on the area. I printed this out and used
it extensively, following the route Will has used on previous counts.
Will's words: "At 0.1 mile on Dee Farrell is an old farm field on the
left, often buzzing with activity". No kidding! I picked up 31 species in
maybe half an hour here. I had been grading until 5:30 AM, so no owls or
nightjars were left when I arrived, but this field and the pines across
the street held lots of breeding species, including Prairie Warbler,
Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, Common Yellowthroat, both Orchard and
Baltimore Orioles, and many others.
"At 0.4 mile is a large field on the left. Stop here and follow a short
trail to a graveyard. There are often many sparrows and other field birds
here." The only sparrows present were Field. However, this place had
several Yellow-breasted Chats, one perched right out in the open!
Figures, I had left my camera in the car. I heard a distant Yellow-billed
Cuckoo down the creek bed aways. And on the way back to my car I found
myself face-to-face with a Gray Fox! It had a ball of fur in its mouth,
looked like perhaps a rabbit which it was taking to its kits.
The bad news: both of these fields show signs of impending development.
The first field has a road cut through it and a sign touting some
construction company, and what looks like a new house back in the woods.
The second field had huge piles of dead wood scattered around (the fox
probably had a den in one of them) and was horribly eroded in places. I
never did find that graveyard...
"Hank's Chapel is usually a very birdy spot, with Killdeer in the lawn,
Bluebirds and Phoebes on the tombstones, Meadowlarks and sparrows calling
in the adjacent cow pasture, and warblers passing through the trees."
Found most of those, including a Savannah Sparrow, one of my two "B"
birds ("A" birds are those found on at least 9 of the last 10 counts, "B"
only 7-8; I didn't find anything less frequent). "I don't know why, but
the trees on either side of this small field often produce the most
warblers", right again; the only non-breeding warblers I found here were
Yellow and American Redstart, both singing right from this spot. It's
uncanny... I also found two Eastern Box Turtles in this area, one on the
dirt road into the woods behind the church, the other straddling the
double yellow line of Hank's Chapel Road until I escorted it into the
adjacent field. Will mentioned this field: "There is a large field here
that often is good for field birds." Well, only a Meadowlark this time,
but I did spot my only herons of the day here: two Greens, flying over
the field!
"At 0.7 miles on the left is Robeson Creek Canoe Access... The parking
lot area can be moderately good for land birds." Found Summer Tanager,
Northern Parula, a few other things here. Most exciting was a Question
Mark butterfly, sitting in the mud at my feet, flashing its punctuation
at me. Left my camera in the car again...
"At 1.9 miles on the left is Providence Chapel Road. This 0.7 mile dead
end road might have some birds, though I've never birded it. You'll be
left wondering where the chapel actually is. Perhaps the sign at the end
instructing you to park and walk along a dirt path is a clue." Well, I
saw only a few birds driving down, and the only sign at the end said "NO
TRESSPASSING etc. etc. etc." Didn't see any trail.
"At 2.9 miles is the bridge over Stinking Creek, with a pulloff at 3.0
miles. There usually isn't much here, but you can scope a small part of
Jordan Lake and enjoy the flight of Barn Swallows." I did, especially
when a Red-shouldered Hawk wandered over the bridge and was mobbed by the
swallows. I enjoyed it even more when I noticed that amid the Barn
Swallows were at least four Cliff Swallows!
"At 4.3 miles is Clark Poe Road (1977). This 0.7 mile long road ends at a
barrier. You can continue on foot to a small arm of the lake. Often very
birdy." Well, Ovenbirdy, at least. I heard several here, and had good
looks at two. A Spotted Sandpiper flushed where the road ran into the
water. Not much else, other than another Question Mark, and the first of
my ten ticks for the day. To be fair, it was getting a little late in the
day by now (11 AM), and noone on the Jordan Lake count had many migrants
yesterday.
"At 4.6 miles is a large field on the right. It's worth giving a quick
look for things like Prairie Warbler." At least four were singing here.
Will scores again...
I checked the other sites on the TBG, without much luck, probably due to
the warm sunny weather and late hour. However, I returned to Robeson
Creek, which I had skipped past earlier. As Will hints in the guide, I
saw and heard several Yellow-throated Warblers and heard Northern Parula
here, even at mid-day. No Louisiana Waterthrush though. I did get about
the best look I've ever had at Acadian Flycatcher, singing from a low
branch; I was again without my camera. A few interesting clubtail
dragonflies were defending rocks in the creek, not sure of the exact
species. And shortly after I decided to stay until I found one more new
bird for the day, even at risk of being late for the countdown, a
Red-headed Woodpecker flew in and perched on a dead pine tree. Yes, the
same ones of which Will says "An area of dead pine trees on the left (the
work of pine bark beetles) is great for woodpeckers". Nostradamus, watch
out...
Nothing new to report from the yard bird-wise. A female Ruby-throated
Hummer was gleaning the sides of the house this morning, possibly
collecting spiderwebs for a nest. And a Silver-spotted Skipper showed up
this morning as well.
Good birding,
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/