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Ellerbe Purple Finch and other wintry sightings



Hi Carolinabirders,

Avian signs of winter all around lately. The most interesting came early
this afternoon. I had just finished a couple of hours at an Ellerbe Creek
Watershed Association workday, fighting back waves of Chinese Wisteria and
Japanese Honeysuckle away from the native plants at ECWA's preserve, 17
Acre Wood (between Indian Trail Park and Westover Park in Durham). ECWA
director Steve Hiltner and I were walking the paved trail along the creek,
and flushed a female Purple Finch across the creek, where it allowed a few
good looks. Another first for the ECWA preserve vicinity, species #105.

The seed and fruit crop at the ECWA preserve looks great for this winter.
Not only are many of the yet-to-be-eradicated invasives like Japanese
Honeysuckle and Wintercreeper laden with berries, so are natives like
Hackberry. And the seeds of flowers like Coreopsis, Bidens, and assorted
sunflowers, and trees like Ash, Sycamore, and Sweet Gum, are already
attracting heaps of American Goldfinches as well as today's Purple. I'm
hoping for at least Pine Siskin before the winter's through, maybe even
something better...

New for the season, but already on the preserve list, was a Golden-crowned
Kinglet. Heard only.

The new prairie ECWA is creating on the north side of NorthPointe Commons
is blooming with lots of seed-bearing flowers too, but no birds there
today but Song Sparrows and a Red-tail. Spent the evening hacking woody
growth out of the wildflower-rich grassland remnant along Glenn Road; no
birds, but did stumble into the spectacular caterpillar of the Pandora
Sphinx moth! Big, club-headed, chocolate-brown critter with a row of
silvery oval spots on each side.

Back on the home front, glimpsed and heard a Winter Wren Friday
morning; yard bird #70, and my first of the winter. Saturday, the year's
first White-throated Sparrow popped up next door.

Good birding,

Josh


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

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