[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

NHAS trip to Howell Woods review



On Sat, 3 May 2003, Shantanu Phukan wrote:
>
> I left a little early so the others may have seen more interesting
> species.

HI Carolinabirders,

We certainly didn't see anything that topped that! The Swallow-tailed
Kites were a life bird for at least two people present, and a state bird
for pretty much everyone else but me, and I was seeing them for only my
second time ever in NC. Not only that, they were a new addition to the
Howell Woods bird checklist! So excitement all around.

But the trip would have been a great success even without the twin
highlights. We finished the day with 84 bird species in total. We added
not one but two species to the Howell Woods site list, the other being
Semipalmated Plover, which was feeding on a mud bar beside the river along
with a vast array of shorebirds including 10+ (not so) Solitary
Sandpipers, a similar number of Lesser Yellowlegs, one Greater Yellowlegs,
15-20 Least Sandpipers, and a scattering of Spotted Sandpipers and
Killdeer! We saw at least 4-6 Mississippi Kites on the day, including a
pair swooping around the fields right outside the visitors' center, right
where we saw a pair on last year's trip! And we saw or heard (or both) 17
warbler species, including a frustrating and tantalizing look at what was
probably a Swainson's!

And the birds were just the tip of the iceberg. I don't think we saw any
really rare or exciting insects, but we all greatly enjoyed Red-banded
Hairstreaks, Orange Bluets, Six-spotted Tiger Beetles and many other
critters (if not the abundant mosquitoes). Herp highlights included a
Narrow-mouthed Toad (Gastrophryne carolinensis) that Mike Swaim and I
unearthed from a rotten log, a Marbled Salamander under a board, and the
emerald duo of Green Treefrog and Rough Green Snake! And the wildflowers
and other plants also impressed, with the likes of Virginia Sweetspire,
White Wild Indigo, Yellow Stargrass, American Snowbell, and (always my
favorite) Jack-in-the-Pulpit all in flower, along with many more! We even
tallied a few species of fish and several ferns and mosses.

Now, a few hours of sleep before the Wildathon starts...

Good birding!

Josh


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

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