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Chatham County NAMC - More Eagles than Warblers?



Hi C-birders,

Okay, we didn't really have more eagles than warblers. But we were 
amazingly close; we had a very disappointing day migrant-wise, with more 
*individual* Bald Eagles (six) that we had *species* of warblers (four). 
Especially disappointing since others apparently had no warbler shortage, 
though it sounds like a couple of SC counters had days like ours, many 
raptors and few landbirds.

"We" was a contingent from Duke. At 5:30 AM, I rendezvoused with lab tech 
Navila Hamilton and grad students Rena Borkhataria and Colin Saunders. 
About 20 minutes later, late-sleeping grad student Jessica Hardistee 
caught up and we left. Norm Budnitz, whose intended birding partner 
(Patsy Bailey) was stranded out of town by the airline shutdown, met us 
at Horton's Pond. And German exchange student Martin Kaltenpoth (a 
herper, rather than a birder like Frank) joined me in the late morning 
after all but Norm had left, and stayed for the afternoon.

Norm started the day with an Eastern Screech-Owl before the rest of us 
arrived. We turned up a variety of common residents as the sky lightened. 
A few Great Egrets and a Spotted Sandpiper waited on the shore of Jordan 
Lake near Horton's Pond. A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, maybe a migrant, called 
from the scrubby deciduous woods along the shore. Then an adult Bald 
Eagle flew into view over the far shoreline, which we thought was good at 
the time... Norm and I pished up an American Redstart and a Black-and- 
White Warbler to join the BGGN. We left there around 7:30, and spotted a 
kettle of over 20 Turkey Vultures rising over the Crosswinds Marina; hope 
the person counting that neighborhood noticed.

A quick biscuit stop at the R&T Grill, then to Ebenezer. Things started 
quickly. Jessica spotted a Pileated Woodpeckler as we drove through the 
parking lot. I saw two Sanderlings and a Spotted Sandpiper in flight 
before the cars stopped rolling; Norm re-found the Sandies on the shore 
not far away. And a Caspian Tern flew by not long after that!

Then, quiet for a while. The cold and wind generated serious viewing 
problems over the water, combining mist, heat distortion, and choppy 
waves, while the wind apparently also drove the passerines away from the 
lakeshore and back into the woods.

We moved into the lee of the restrooms, and let the sun warm us up. I 
scanned with binoculars and saw a white dot in the trees on the far 
shore. Could it be another adult Bald Eagle? Got the scope on it: TWO of 
them. Then Jessica asks about the raptor that just soared into view over 
the trees; it's an immature. Then two more appear, another pair of 
adults! FIVE Bald Eagles, four adults and an immature, all together! 
Don't see that every day, unless you live in Alaska!

The adjacent picnic area had lots of fruit on Virginia Creeper vines and 
Black Gum trees, but the only migrant birds around were two Red-eyed 
Vireos and an Eastern Wood-Pewee, plus the lone Chimney Swift circling 
overhead. A "murder" of crows raised a racket, and turned out to be 
mobbing a Red-tailed Hawk. After that, Jessica, Colin, and Rena went 
home; Martin showed up not long afterwards. Since we had found so few 
migrants on the edge of the woods, we tried the Old Oak Trail into the 
interior, but the only bird we added to our list was a Green Heron on the 
larger of the two ponds. We began getting distracted by plants, insects, 
fungi, and frogs. At one point I lay on my belly to photograph a yellow 
coral fungus, and rose to discover DOZENS of tiny ticks on my arms! I 
think they were newly hatched baby Lone Star Ticks, rather than Deer 
Ticks, but my fiance is watching my health closely...

Back to the R&T for the Triangle's best burgers for lunch. Then Norm 
left, while Martin and I headed back down to the Poplar Point water 
treatment ponds. An impressive 19 Wood Ducks, including two or three 
dazzling males, plus a Blue-Winged Teal, an American Black Duck, and the 
usual bevy of Mallards.

Martin and I spent the rest of the afternoon, until we went home at 4:15, 
at Horton's Pond. Birds were few and far between, especially migrants, 
and other organisms were terribly distracting. I took a photo of a 
juvenile Fence Lizard perched on the back of Martin's leg, just to prove 
how intent the non-birds were at getting our attention! (I also have a 
photo of some kind of Robber Fly on my shorts). However, we did add a few 
species to our list, starting with a Red-headed Woodpecker on a dead tree 
in the spillway, and the day's second Pileated not far away. An Osprey 
appeared over the marsh north of the pond, attempted to perch in a tree 
to enjoy its snack, but was chased off not once but twice by a young Red- 
Shouldered Hawk! The only migrants we could pull out of passing passerine 
flocks were another Black-and-White and another Redstart, but we capped 
the day when an Ovenbird flitted across the trail and walked away through 
the forest.

Yesterday, the biodiversity class I TA had a field trip to the Duke 
marine lab in Beaufort, NC, including a jaunt out to Carrot Island (also 
known as Bird Shoal or the Rachael Carson NWR). The class focused 
primarily on invertebrates, algae, and plants. However, I did manage to 
spot an American Kestrel heading south over the island. Plenty of waders 
and shorebirds around, of course, including many Marbled Godwits and 
White Ibis and Willets, a few American Oystercatchers, a basic-plumage 
Ruddy Turnstone, a Semipalmated Plover, and Tricolored and Little Blue 
Herons.

Good birding,

Josh


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

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