[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
shorebirds by canoe -- now's the time
- To: "'carolinabirds@duke.edu'" <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
- Subject: shorebirds by canoe -- now's the time
- From: "Travis, Ginger" <Ginger@athena.dev.unc.edu>
- Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 15:06:31 -0400
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi, all. Just a note to suggest that there's never been a better year
to hop in a canoe or kayak and explore the drawn-down piedmont
lakes for shorebirds. I tried this Sunday on Jordan Lake, and it was
a blast. Also, for the first time in my experience, canoes and kayaks
outnumbered jetskis and bass boats at the north end of Jordan Lake.
Hallelujah!
At Jordan, where the water level is now below 210, there are big
sandbar-islands just south of the tip of the peninsula between Morgan
Creek and New Hope Creek. The bottom around the sandbars is firm,
so you can get out of your boat and walk around in shallow water and
not sink in. In fact, you can even set up a scope and tripod in the
water. (Note: Farther north the floodplains of the creeks are silty
and soft, so stick a paddle in the bottom before you decide whether
to get out of your boat.)
We landed on one sandbar loaded with peeps and plovers,
and I got my official life look at Western Sandpiper after studying
this species through my scope from 50 feet away. (I've been shown
Western before, but it's nice to figure it out for yourself.) There were
Least, Semipalmated and Pectoral Sandpipers motoring around,
some as close as 10 yards away, as well as Semipalmated Plovers
and one Ruddy Turnstone. Later, on another sandbar I saw some
Lesser Yellowlegs too. Interestingly, we found the sandpipers the
tamest of the birds perched on the islands; others, including
a Great Egret, 4 Ring-billed Gulls, a Bald Eagle and a Caspian
Tern, were flightier.
Also seen: 4 Snowy Egrets (perched on snags just east of the
tip of the peninsula separating Morgan and New Hope Creeks,
along with tons of Double-crested Cormorants and 4 Osprey --
two on an old nest and two on snags), Killdeer, many Great Egrets
and Great Blue Herons, a few Caspian Terns and 4 immature Bald
Eagles in the air at one time. Fishing appears good for the eagles.
We saw several large fish skeletons lying around the sandbars,
plus two Osprey in flight carrying fish, and one immature Bald Eagle
landing on a sandbar to pick at something, probably a fish carcass.
>From the Farrington Point boat ramps we went north under the
Farrington Road causeway and made a four-mile roundtrip in a
slow but stable canoe filled with scope and tripod, snacks,
field guides and other essentials. (Cathy Packer has suggested
we may need to tow a trailer-boat in future, as we seem to add
more and more stuff for our expeditions.) We put in at 7 a.m.
and took out at 11. If it had been cooler, we'd have stayed longer
and paddled another mile up to Hwy. 751, a shorebird hotspot.
There are two sets of boat ramps at Farrington Point. The one
preferred by paddlers is the one closer to the causeway.
Cheers! I hope some of you try this at Jordan or at a lake
near you in the next couple of weeks.
Ginger Travis
Chapel Hill, N.C.