GVL River Park North Bird Club Outing

["ICP Naturalist" <tchngk@hotmail.com>]

Monday 7 May 2001,
River Park North, Greenville, Pitt County, NC.
1830-2030 hrs, clear, 71-62 deg. F.
Observers: 10 birders (braving the mud flat mosquitoes) on
a Greenville-River Park North Bird Club outing.
“OH” = seen flying over field of view.  “HO” = heard only.

Great Blue Heron - 4 (on pond)
Green Heron - 1 HO (on pond)
Canada Goose - 15 (field and OH)
Mallard - 10 (pond and mud flats)
Wood Duck - 3 adult, 2 young (on pond)
Cooper’s Hawk - 1 OH (near office)
Killdeer - 2 (at mud flats)
Greater Yellowlegs - 1 (at mud flats)
Solitary Sandpiper - 1 (at mud flats)
Least Sandpiper - 15 (at mud flats)
Mourning Dove - 5 (fields)
Barred Owl - 3 HO (at mud flats and pond)
Chimney Swift - 10 OH (mud flats)
Belted Kingfisher - 1 HO
Pileated Woodpecker  - 1 (“command performance” at mud
flats)
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1 HO (mud flats)
Downy Woodpecker - 1 (trees at field)
Eastern Kingbird - 1 (field)
Great Crested Flycatcher - 2 HO (woods)
Blue Jay  - 1 (mud flats)
Common Crow - 1 (field)
Carolina Chickadee - 2 HO (woods)
Tufted Titmouse -  1 HO (woods)
Carolina Wren - 2 HO (woods)
Brown Thrasher - 3 (woods)
American Robin - 5 (fields)
Eastern Bluebird - 1 (powerline)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 5 (trees)
European Starling - 1	OH (mud flats)
White-eyed Vireo - 1 HO (woods)
Solitary Vireo - 1 HO (woods)
Prothonotary Warbler - 2 (“command performance” at pond)
Common Yellowthroat - 1 (mud flats brush)
Red-winged Blackbird - 2 (mud flats)
Orchard Oriole - 1 HO
“Grackle” - 10
Brown-headed Cowbird - 2
Cardinal - 2 (woods)
Blue Grosbeak - 1 (powerline)
House Finch - 1 (near office)
American Goldfinch - 2 HO (near office)
Rufous-sided Towhee - 1 (woods)
Chipping Sparrow - 2 (near office)

Non-birds:
Leather Flower - (“Clematis crispa”) - many vines with blue,
bell-shaped flowers.
Brown Water Snake - 1 (at pond, ca. 4-ft. SVL)
“Cooter” - 1 (digging nest at pond, next to Brown Water
Snake)

J. K. Williams, “The Inner Coastal Plain Naturalist,”
Greenville NC

The Inner Coastal Plain, west of the Tidewater and east of
the Piedmont Plateau and Sandhills, is a land of “‘Carolina
Bays’... blackwater rivers... swamp forests of Bald cypress,
and Tupelo and Swamp gums... Cross-vine... Star-nosed
mole, Marsh rabbit, and Rice rat... Greater Siren, Two-toed
Amphiuma...  many bird species nest here, or migrate
through... the freshwater aquatic vegetation is rich... Tape
grass, Bladderwort, Pondweed, Arrow-leaved spatterdock,
Duckweed.... floodplain forests... barbed with Greenbrier,
and thickened with Poison ivy and Virginia creeper... unique
fishes and aquatic invertebrates... the endemic Neuse River
Waterdog of the Neuse and Tar rivers... Sweet
pepperbush... Sphagnum... Black bear and Eastern
Diamondback Rattlesnake... Longleaf and Pond pines...
famous... seasonal wildflower displays....”, and “rumors of
Panthers....” - from Cooper, Robinson, and Funderburg,
Endangered and Threatened Plants and Animals of North
Carolina.
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