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NHAS trips; hummer predator



Hi Carolinabirders,

Judy Murray asked me to announce here that New Hope Audubon is having a
field trip tomorrow. Actually, a dragonfly walk, led by yours truly. The
destination will be decided tomorrow: if we get mostly newcomers who don't
know much about odonates, we'll head to Occoneechee Mountain which has a
diversity and abundance of common, easily identified species. If we get
mostly return customers who know the basics, we'll go somewhere more
challenging, maybe the Flat River or Haw River.

Meet at 9 AM at the usual NHAS rendezvous point, the parking lot in front
of the Mardis Gras Bowling Lanes on NC 54 near the I-40 overpass. Note
that construction has closed some of the ramps there, so taking I-40 may
not be a good idea; 15-501 is longer but safer.

I noticed that the NHAS website is way behind, still showing field trips
from May and June. I did copy all the NHAS events from the latest
newsletter onto the calendar page of the Duke Natural History Society
website, along with activities of Wake Audubon, the Chapel Hill Bird CLub,
and lots more:
http://www.biology.duke.edu/dnhs/

When the rains returned a little over a week ago, as usual the hummingbird
activity at the feeders intensified. That's when I noticed that one of the
local Brown Thrashers was repeatedly lurking in the brush pile near one of
our feeders, and leaping out at hummingbirds. Trying to catch and eat
them? Thrashers do often remind me of Greater Roadrunners, which have been
noted catching and eating hummers at feeders out west. At one scary point
I even saw the thrasher fly out and grab something green off the driveway,
but then I spotted the latest hummingbird perched in its usual spot on the
highest twig of the brush pile, so the thrasher must have caught something
else...

Good birding,

Josh


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

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