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March Wake Audubon events and Audubon NC Annual Meeting



Howdy!

I woke up to the sounds of cardinals, titmice, and Carolina Wrens
singing. A pair of bluebirds are talkative and checking out the bluebird
box in the backyard. Wonder if they'll finally use it this year, or will
the titmouse take up residence again?

Below you'll see the Wake Audubon Society events for March 2003. For
those of you who missed Johnny Randall at the Washington CBC meeting,
you can catch him at our monthly program this month.

Plus, only 24 more days left until the Audubon NC meeting in Raleigh
(Lena and I have been working on this since August!), so we hope you'll
join
us. You'll find more information, along with the field trips offered,
below the Wake Audubon events.

Happy birding!

Karen Bearden
Raleigh, NC
chickadeebirders@earthlink.net

March Meeting
Tuesday, March 11, Hear North Carolina botanist Johnny Randall from the
NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill discuss the pros and cons of native
versus exotic plants. His talk is entitled "Birds and Invasive Exotic
Plants: A Match Made in Hell." The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. in
the A-level conference room of the North Carolina Museum of Natural
Sciences.

Saturday, March 15, Anderson Point Avian Adventures. Meet at 8:30 a.m.
in the parking lot at Anderson Point Park. Highway 64 E from the
Beltline two miles. Turn right on Rogers Lane; the parking lot is at the
end of the street, 881-2601.

Saturday, March 22, Mason Farm and North Carolina Botanical Garden.
Enjoy a day of birds and flowers at these two Chapel Hill locations,
851-5539.

******ALSO*******

Join Audubon members from across the state as Wake Audubon hosts the
Audubon North Carolina Annual Meeting March 28-29, 2003, at the Museum
of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, NC. The format has been changed from
previous years to include field trips to local sites and to increase
time for socializing with other Audubon chapter members. Evening events
and registration will be held at the Museum so attendees will have an
opportunity to leisurely explore many of the exhibits.

The meeting begins Friday evening with registration and a dessert social
at the Museum. There are 15 field trips to choose from on Saturday. Late
March is a transitional time of the year for birds-between lingering
winter species and early spring arrivals but, of course, we'll also have
our resident Piedmont birds. Remember to plan for early spring weather!

Saturday evening will begin with a social at the Museum followed by
Chris Canfield's annual report and the Audubon NC video. Enjoy a casual
dinner in the Museum as you stroll from the mountains to the sea exhibit
before hearing our featured speaker, Jim Berry, speak on "The Impact of
Roger Tory Peterson on the Environmental Movement of the 20th Century
and His Lasting Legacy". Jim is President of the Roger Tory Peterson
Institute of Natural History (RTPI) in Jamestown, NY, hometown of Roger
Tory Peterson. RTPI is a nature education and cultural institution
curating the life's work of Dr. Peterson. Jim is a lifelong naturalist
who is happy he was able to turn his passion into a career.

Registration for Saturday field trips, which covers the whole day, is
$10; registration for Friday and Saturday night programs is $15; and
registration for the Saturday night dinner buffet is $15.
Pre-registration for dinner is required by March 18.

Participation is open to members and non-members!! Join us as we
welcome the new growth of spring in North Carolina!

For registration forms and more information visit the Wake Audubon
website at www.mybirdlist.com/wakeaudubon.html or call 919-844-9050 for
more information. Send form and a check payable to Audubon North
Carolina to: Wake Audubon Society, PO Box 12452, Raleigh, NC 27605.

Field Trip Descriptions

Trip #1          All day       8:00 am    Bring beverage and lunch
Falls Lake State Recreation Area - This trip offers a diversity of
habitats from mature pine forest with woodpeckers and Brown-headed
Nuthatch to the lake for scoping Common Loon, gulls, and waterfowl.
After lunch at a picnic site, the trip will end in the open fields and
swamp area of Brickhouse Road, searching for sparrows and Northern
Harrier. 4-5 miles.

Trip #2 and Trip # 11      8:00 am and 1:00 pm
Anderson Point Park - The confluence of the Neuse River and Crabtree
Creek is in the bottomland forest of this city park. Learn how Wake
Audubon is working to restore 10 acres of wildlife meadow through the
Adopt-A-Park Program. We'll look for bluebirds vying for nest boxes,
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Barred Owl, woodpeckers, and possible returning
migrants such as White-eyed Vireo. If time permits, we'll also bird
along the Neuse River Greenway Trail. Picnic tables are available. 1-2
miles.

Trip #3   8:00 am
NCSU Dairy Ponds, Mid-Pines Road, and Lake Wheeler- To comply with
Statewide biosecurity measures, to prevent the introduction of exotic
pathogens and pests, participants who have traveled outside the United
States during the previous five days will not be permitted to visit this
site. Bird a variety of habitats searching for late waterfowl and early
shorebirds at the Dairy Ponds. Bird along Mid-Pines Road through
cultivated and wooded margins of the NCSU research farm complex looking
for Eastern Meadowlark, Loggerhead Shrike, and sparrows. If time
permits, we'll also bird at Lake Wheeler. Approximately 1 mile.

Trip #4 and #12      8:15 am and 1:00 pm
Greenview Pond at Dutchman's Creek - Acquired by the NC Department of
Transportation for wetland mitigation, Greenview's beaver ponds and
marshes have been preserved but the pond has undergone alterations. Wake
Audubon is working on a preservation management plan. We'll look for
waterfowl, herons, hawks, sparrows, and Loggerhead Shrike. Long pants
and sturdy footwear that may get wet are a necessity for this walk.
Approximately 1 mile.

Trip #5 and #13        8:15 am and 1:00 pm
Buckeye Trail - One of Raleigh's paved greenway trails, we'll bird along
the wooded flood plain of Crabtree Creek looking for woodpeckers,
Red-shouldered Hawk, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and early returning spring
warblers. We'll also bird the wetland on Raleigh Boulevard adjacent to
the greenway where Great Blue Herons have begun nesting in recent years.
1-2 miles.

Trip #6 and #14       8:15 am and 1:00 pm
William B.Umstead State Park - Bird the easy to moderate, hilly terrain
of the Crabtree section of Umstead off Ebenezer Road. Walk through mixed
pine-hardwood and mature riparian stands looking for species such as
Pileated and Red-headed Woodpeckers, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker,
Brown-headed Nuthatch, and returning breeders. Approximately 2 miles.

Trip #7            8:30 am
Yates Millpond County Park - To comply with Statewide biosecurity
measures, to prevent the introduction of exotic pathogens and pests,
participants who have traveled outside the United States during the
previous five days will not be permitted to visit this site. The
millpond is a research area for the NCSU Zoology Department, and
recently has partnered with Wake County to become a county park. We'll
receive a guided tour of our soon-to-be park through a diversity of
habitats, including a successional field, 100 year-old trees in an
Oak-Hickory Forest, and marshland. Hooded Merganser, Wood Duck, Belted
Kingfisher, Red-tailed Hawk, woodpeckers, and early migrants are
expected species. We'll also hear the history of the historic mill.
Picnic tables are available. 1-2 miles.

Trip #8            8:30 am
Ecology at Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve - This trip will focus on the
ecology of Hemlock Bluffs by identifying plants, birds, and amphibians.
The bluffs along Swift Creek create a microclimate that is cooler and
wetter than the surrounding Piedmont area, which has allowed a relic
population of eastern hemlock trees to thrive since glacial times. A
staircase descending the bluffs accesses the floodplain along Swift
Creek Trail. The Chestnut Oak Loop Trail accesses the upland areas.
Approximately 2 miles.

Trip #9 and #15          9:00 am and 1:00 pm
Guided Tour of NC Museum of Natural Sciences - Join Museum staff members
for a short tour and brief behind-the-scenes look inside the Museum.
Meets at the Museum.

Trip #10      1:00 pm
Wildflowers at William B. Umstead State Park  - Join a wildflower expert
at the Reedy Creek section of Umstead in search of early spring
wildflowers such as Spring Beauty, Trout Lily, and Hepatica. Terrain
will be easy to moderate. 1-2 miles.