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CBC meeting review



Hi C-birders,

I had a great time this weekend! Fortunately, the Comfort Inn still had
rooms left on Thursday, and I left Durham just in time to beat the
weather; the snow was falling hard, but was not sticking to the roads yet.
I talked to several people who drove the same route just after me and had
much more trouble... As usual, saw many familiar faces and also many new
ones; I especially enjoy meeting people whom I've previously only known
through e-mail. 98% of them are very different than I expected, and 99% of
them are much more fun in person!

Anyhow, I had never been to Mattamuskeet NWR before, and so was determined
to take one of the three all-day trips there on Friday. When I found out
that Wayne Irvin was leading one of them, that made up my mind for me.
Turned out to be a great decision! Shortly after meeting a refuge staff
person (Randall?) and being let through the Rose Bay gate, we had not one
but two point-blank, unobstructed, gorgeous views of American Bitterns! We
were then led to the most productive impoundment in the area, where I
managed to pick a EURASIAN WIGEON out of the massive waterfowl flocks that
also included hundreds of American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Pintail, and
Tundra Swan, and smaller numbers of Northern Shoveler and American Black
Duck. Randall later showed us to a canal in the woods that sheltered a
hundred or so Wood Ducks, the first I've seen in months; quite a way to
break the drought!

After more birding around west Mattamuskeet, a brief visit to Swan Quarter
NWR, and a break for lunch, we spent the rest of our daylight at the Pungo
unit of Pocosin Lakes NWR. We had been told that an aerial survey had
recently counted over 47,000 Snow Geese there, and when we reached the
observation platform on the south shore of the lake, sure enough, the far
northwestern corner was coated with a mass of white, almost too far away
to distinguish the individual birds. We circumnavigated the tract, winding
up at the edge of a big farm field where we debated whether the raptor I
had spotted sitting on the ground was a Northern Harrier or Short-eared
Owl. It turned out to be a harrier, but while we waited to confirm this,
the geese started flying out of the refuge. And kept coming... and
coming... and coming! It was at least 15 minutes, probably more, before
the river of Snow Geese stopped flowing out over the field; and then they
rose up out of the far field where they'd landed, formed a great whirlpool
over the near one (not far from the harrier), and settled down; it looked
like all 47,000 of them at once!

We stayed out until dark but tallied only a heard-only Great Horned Owl.
We did meet a Mr. Boerma, a neighboring farmer, after whom Boerma Road on
the Pungo unit is named; when we told him we were looking for owls, he
said we should tell Frank Enders he said hello, and to convey that one of
the owls in his silo (BArns, presumably!) had recently died.

We headed back for dinner and Friday night's talk, which was by Dr. Johnny
Randall of the North Carolina Botanical Garden, and about birds and exotic
plant species, a topic close to my own heart. I learned quite a bit; what
struck me the most was his analysis of the nutrition of native and exotic
shrub fruit. Exotic species like privets (Ligustrum) and autumn-olives
(Eleagnus) have mostly carbohydrates in their fruit, while native species
like Viburnums and hollies have fruits richer in protein and lipids
(fats). So allowing birds to eat fruit off exotic plants in your yard,
rather than replacing them with native species, is equivalent to feeding
your children candy, cookies, and chips rather than healthy food; they're
happy enough, but it ain't good for them! He also discussed how native
plants were not being pollinated or having their fruit dispersed as much
due to competition from the sweeter, less healthy exotics.

Saturday morning I led my own field trip to Lake Phelps in Pettigrew State
Park. I have to thank Jeff Pippen and Susan Campbell for telling me about
some less productive parts of the area that they had visited on their
Friday trips, and Harry LeGrand for directing me to a more productive
spot. We started with Cypress Point, from which we saw a Common Loon and
rafts of Ruddy Duck and Hooded Merganser, plus a large shoal of Tundra
Swans. We walked a bit of the Morotoc Trail; an adult Bald Eagle soared
overhead, but we saw little else of note.

So then - after stopping because a large flock of American Pipits were
blocking the road - we relocated to the Moccasin Trail, which was better
for birds, and the trees were spectacular! Many huge Bald Cypresses, not
quite Corkscrew Swamp big, but the biggest I've seen in North Carolina to
date. Also some of the biggest American Hollies I've seen, and some very
large Tulip Poplars, oaks, and other trees. If only the understory wasn't
so overwhelmed with Japanese Honeysuckle... We glimpsed a Pileated
Woodpecker, a Winter Wren or two, and at least a dozen Yellow-bellied
Sapsuckers in the woods; then, from Moccasin Overlook, we spotted rafts of
Canvasback and Gadwall and had a much better look at the swans.

Eventually I and half of my group had to leave (the other half - Charlotte
Goedsche, Kent Fiala, and Van Atkins and his wife - stayed there) and rush
back for the afternoon trips. I decided to follow John and Paula Wright to
the Pactolus catfish ponds, and wound up once again riding with Wayne
Irvin. We saw at least 15 Bald Eagles (probably more) divided between two
sets of catfish ponds, as well as 2 Common Snipe at each set and a
beautifully lit pair of ducks, one Ring-necked and one Lesser Scaup (both
male), at the second. But the real highlight for me came at a water-filled
sand pit where John pointed out a trio of Anhinga, a state bird for me! We
also enjoyed a Barred Owl who decided to fly across the road right in
front of our caravan and perch on a limb in broad daylight, for just about
the best look I've ever had.

After a few more stops, we once again headed back for dinner, and for Jim
Rising's outstanding slide show on the sparrows of North Carolina. I heard
tell of various birds I would have loved to stay and see on Sunday -
Western Kingbird, Barn Owl, a probable Golden Eagle - but I had a 2 PM lab
prep session back in Durham, and so had to leave those for another
trip....

Good birding!

Josh


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

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