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Birding in the New Year



Howdy,

Joe and I have had a nice beginning to our 2003 bird list by
birding in the Raleigh area. We had a late start on January 1st because
of rain, but we began by checking Shelley Lake (close to our
neighborhood off Millbrook) where we saw the Common Merganser for the
Raleigh CBC. Only Mallards Wednesday, plus lots of Ring-billed Gulls and
one male kingfisher perched on a tree branch hanging over the water for
at least 15 minutes. Lena's brightly-colored Baltimore Orioles were a
wonderful way to start the new year! She now has two coming to her
feeders. We counted 21 Canvasback, four Bufflehead, and one Ruddy Duck
at West Lake Pond in south Raleigh. We rushed to Steve and Tracey's
neighborhood by dusk to see the American Woodcock display, which is
always a special treat. There were also Wood Ducks flying overhead at
dusk. Turns out Tracey counted 41 Canvasback in West Lake Pond earlier
that morning. (Two weeks earlier Joe and I also had 2 Redhead Ducks
there with the Canvasbacks, giving us a great opportunity to compare
them side-by-side.)

Early Saturday afternoon found us at Lake Benson in southeast Raleigh,
where Clyde and Lena had lots of ducks for the CBC. As Joe set up our
scope, a flock of around 40 Shovlers flushed and flew off. We also saw 9
Ring-necked Duck, 20 Gadwall (they are really an elegant duck I think),
1 female Hooded Merganser, 5 Pied-billed Grebe, and 1 coot. These were
seen from the boat ramp area. Once inside the park I was happy to see a
shrike on the entrance road; waxwings, juncos, and sapsucker in the
parking lot; and two adult Bald Eagles riding the thermals against the
beautiful, blue sky.

We estimated 56 Ruddy Ducks at the Lake Wheeler pull-off along Penny Rd.
At Yates Millpond there were more Ruddy Ducks, along with Ring-necked
Ducks and Mallards, plus chickadees, Golden-crowned Kinglets, and a
Brown Creeper blending in very well.

Sunday afternoon we spent a short time at Lake Crabtree County Park. I
was hoping for my first loon of the year since we didn't see any at Lake
Benson or Lake Wheeler, but I couldn't make any of those cormorants into
a loon. (I'm jealous about the loons Will and Jeff saw on the Southport
CBC!!) It was very windy and cold, but we counted 11 Ruddy Ducks, a
Great Blue Heron perched on an Osprey platform, 5 Wilson Snipe (have to
get used to the name change!), and another adult Bald Eagle.

A good start! Hope to make it to Jordan Lake next weekend to look for
loons!

Look forward to seeing some of you in Washington, NC for the Carolina
Bird Club meeting!

Happy birding! Karen Bearden
Raleigh, NC
chickadeebirders@earthlink.net