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Horton's Hears a Hoot (fall NAMC, Ebenezer vicinity)



Hi Carolinabirders!

It's been a busy and fun-filled weekend of birding. It all started when I 
once again joined Frank the German before dawn, this time for the Chatham 
County NAMC. Just like last week, Frank had partied until the wee hours, 
and then came to meet me for birding without sleeping first. We started 
the NAMC around 5:30 AM at Horton's Pond, listening for owls. Nothing 
called willingly, so I again fell back on my ancient Peterson Field Guide 
to Bird Songs (cassette version).

Now during our big day last weekend, my cassette's recording of Great 
Horned Owl elicited a very strong response from several Eastern Screech- 
Owls. So it seems fitting that for the NAMC, the EASO recording was 
answered by a Great Horned! Frank had dozed off, but when I whispered 
"Great Horned Owl!" excitedly, his head perked up. I asked Frank if he 
had heard it, he said no; but when it called again, and I asked again, he 
answered "yeah". More on this later...

Frank dozed back off, the sky lightened, and I started birding. The pond 
and marsh were unoccupied, but suddenly I started noticing birds in the 
trees. A Summer Tanager, then a pair of Scarlets (the first of many all 
weekend long, everywhere I went!), then a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. I spotted 
all 6 breeding woodpecker species within about 15 minutes, including 
Pileated and Flicker in the same binocular view, and an immature 
Red-headed carrying a comically large green nut (Hickory?). A seemingly 
out-of-habitat Northern Bobwhite called from across the pond. An American 
Redstart was the day's first warbler. When a Northern Parula showed up, I 
jogged back to the car, since Frank needed this bird for a lifer. Alas, 
my taunting calls had no effect, nor did the cold morning air; Frank 
covered his face with his hands and rolled over. I left his door open and 
birded some more, but came back later and found the door closed and Frank 
still napping.

Just before 8 AM (when all the SRA's open), I pulled up at the Poplar 
Point settling ponds. Frank finally awakened here, in time to see a trio 
of Wood Ducks and a quartet of Mallards. However, not only did he have no 
memory of my crying "Parula", or of his closing the door, he did not even 
remember hearing the owl, or speaking to me about it!

Finally Ebenezer Church SRA opened at 8 AM. As usual for September, there 
were few waterbirds; but Frank spotted a trio of Caspian Terns, and I 
picked an immature Bald Eagle out of the soaring Ospreys and Turkey 
Vultures that ringed Jordan Lake. However, the little patch of trees at 
the tip of Ebenezer Point, where I found 13 warbler species during last 
year's fall NAMC, was nearly empty, possibly because of the stiff, cool 
breeze off the lake. The beach was shorebirdless except for a pair of 
Killdeer, and cherry tree near the picnic tables was also much less 
productive than last year. However, the little pond downhill from the 
picnic area held our rarest bird of the day, an immature Black-crowned 
Night Heron, along with a Great Egret and a pair of Blue-gray 
Gnatcatchers.

The field at Ebenezer was sparrow(and other bird)less; there was too long 
a line of cars waiting to get into Poplar Point SRA, and we couldn't 
figure out if birding was permitted at the Chatham County water treatment 
plant, so we headed for the R&T Grill for lunch. Given how few eating 
establishments there are in Chatham County north of Pittsboro, it was not 
too surprising to run into Will Cook and Toni Rexrode there; we also met 
a new Carolinabirder who I think said his name was Tom Patton. For non- 
vegetarian birders who visit Jordan Lake, Frank and I both heartily 
endorse the R&T as having the best burgers in the Triangle and better 
than anywhere in Germany, including Hamburg!

We returned to Horton's Pond and were happy to find the birds still 
active (other than the owl) and the area newly cleaned by a wonderful 
group of litter-collecting volunteers. Two Red-tailed Hawks flushed along 
the road, a Red-shouldered was calling back in the woods, and a Broad- 
winged interrupted our picnic lunch by soaring high over the swamp. The 
area around the swamp included mainly the same bird species as I had seen 
that morning, but by hiking further in we added Magnolia, Prairie, 
Black-throated Green, and Black-and-white Warblers, each in a different 
mixed-species flock. An Osprey lurked in a snag over a beaver pond. The 
area upstream from Horton's Pond proper was wonderfully marshy and looked 
like wonderful rail habitat, and also housed hundreds of jewelweed plants 
which are normally great hummingbird food, but we had no luck in these 
departments. By crossing Horton's Pond Road and taking a trail down to 
the lake, we turned up an Ovenbird, a Green Heron, a Common Yellowthroat, 
and a silent Empidonax flycatcher.

We closed the day back at Ebenezer, at the group picnic area. We found a 
very large and lively mixed-species flock here, including Frank's lifer 
Tennessee Warbler. We hiked around the Old Oak Trail and added a pair of 
Wood Thrushes and our 11th and final warbler species of the day, a 
beautiful male Black-throated Blue. After that, though we had planned one 
last visit to the settling ponds, we were drained, sleepy, and hungry, so 
we headed home with 60 species.

As this is getting long (as usual, for me), I'll put my Sunday sightings 
in a separate e-mail... Stay tuned!

Josh



Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/