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Jordan Lake trip 12/8/01



Three New Hope Audubon members took a break from holiday shopping on 
a very warm Saturday, December 8, to look for birds and other 
critters at Jordan Lake (Chatham Cty, NC). We visited Ebenezer Point, 
Vista Point, and Big Woods Road. Despite the fairly numerous 
speedboats (and speeding bass boats), there were a few interesting 
water birds seen from Ebenezer and Vista Points:
Common Loon (1)
Pied-billed Grebe (1)
Horned Grebe (50+)
Hooded Merganser (1)
Red-breasted Merganser (6)
Bald Eagle (1, adult)

There were almost no gulls on the lake--quite a surprise. I saw just 
a dozen or so, all Ring-billed as far as I could tell.

Goldfinches, juncos, and kinglets were abundant in the woodlands 
around the lake, but we saw no siskins or other irruptive winter 
finches. The lake level is very low, making mammal track hunting a 
lot of fun. Just north of Ebenezer Point we saw abundant tracks of 
fox, raccoon, deer, and a few of grey squirrel. There were plenty of 
domestic dog tracks, of course. The low water level is a great 
opportunity to study mammal tracks.

At the swamp at the north end of Big Woods Road, the Red-headed 
Woodpeckers put on a nice display, as is usual there. There were 
plenty of Song Sparrows, but just a few White-throats. We were also 
able to see last year's Great-Blue Heron nests quite easily. The 
creek draining into the lake there is called "Bush Creek" according 
to my North Carolina road atlas. This is the swamp just south of 
where Big Woods dead-ends into Jack Bennett Road.

Most surprising, to me was the site of two dragonflies, species 
unknown, mating/ovipositing in the swamp at Bush Creek. I can't 
recall seeing a dragonfly in December before. They didn't come close 
enough for identification, at least by me. They were not a brightly 
colored species, perhaps grey or brown with un-patterned wings. The 
male was still clasping the female as she oviposited, dipping her 
tail into the water with short strokes. You odonatologists will no 
doubt have some ideas on the species--let me know.

Check out the New Hope Audubon web site for upcoming trips in January 
and beyond. Non-members are always welcome.
-- 

Patrick Coin (patrick@coinconsult.net)
web master (web@newhopeaudubon.org)
field trip chair (fieldtrips@newhopeaudubon.org)
New Hope Audubon Society
P.O. Box 2693
Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2693
http://www.newhopeaudubon.org/