[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Rails is the straaangest critters!



All,

I had to make a whirl-wind trip to the NCDA's Upper Mountain Research
Station in Ashe Co. at Laurel Springs to make a couple of presentations
at a field day on Tuesday. Between talks, Sterling Southern and I ambled
along the little trout stream that runs through the station (Little Peak
Creek- this is the probably the prettiest research station in the
southeast), looking for birds, butterflies and plants. The creek has
brush growing on its banks but otherwise flows through cropland. After a
couple hundred yards of song sparrows and little else, an immature sora
flushed from the opposite side of the creek, hopped down on to a large
rock, and then crossed the creek to our side and ran into a corn field.
We could see him hoofing it through the stalks for quite a while before
we lost sight of him.

This is close to the last place I would have expected to see a rail.

On a different note, I was laying flat on my back in my driveway outside
Clayton last Thursday replacing the *&$$** drive belt on my lawn mower
yet again when an osprey flew directly over my house and towards the
pond out back. It definitely improved my mood.

Take care,

Clyde Sorenson
Clayton and Raleigh, NC
clyde_sorenson@ncsu.edu