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Triangle big (sorta) day #9



Hi Carolinabirders,

Since ABA List Report editor Blake Maybank and I somehow misplaced my 
1999 January NC big day between the two of us, Frank and I went out today 
in an effort to fill the last remaining empty slot in the NC big day 
calendar. My previous best in the Triangle for a single day was 72 
(February 1999), so we set 80 as our goal; but at the end, wound up 
kissing our sisters with 72 species again.

After picking up assorted common suburban things around Frank's house and 
along the roads, we arrived at Lake Crabtree. It was closed! I've never 
seen it closed before, except one time at 4:30 AM... And despite the 
Martin Luther King holiday, traffic around the airport and westwards on 
I-40 was pretty bad, so we passed on Brier Creek Lake and headed for Lake 
Wheeler Road.

Here's a question: anyone know about accessibility issues for the dirt 
road that runs back from the NCSU Experimental Farm Shop, a mile or three 
north of the well-known Dairy Pond? Is this area open to public viewing, 
as the Dairy Pond is? Anyway, this was our first stop. The NCSU 
Experimental Manure Application Area south of the road was quite 
aromatic. The main excitement here was a flock of approximately 20 
American Pipits that flew over the road from the Manure Zone and landed 
in the field to the north. Alas, they landed behind a rise out of sight, 
and there was noone around to ask for permission to enter the field, so 
we let them go. We did find, however, a pond downhill from the end of 
this dirt road, populated by two Ring-necked Ducks and several 
Bufflehead.

From here, we toured the usual suite of Wake water bodies. The Dairy Pond 
held several Lesser Scaup and a few Northern Shovelers; a BIG flock of 
Canada Geese, a Red-tailed Hawk, an Eastern Phoebe, and several Killdeer 
were all in the surrounding area. Yates Mill Pond had a few Hooded 
Mergansers and a Belted Kingfisher on the water, while numerous White- 
throated and Song Sparrows and Kinglets of both stripes frolicked in the 
surrounding forest. Lake Wheeler was out of character with virtually no 
waterfowl, but massive numbers of Ring-billed Gulls, over 300 of them. We 
did ferret out Mallard and Ruddy Duck here to reach 40 species on the 
morning. John Argentati wasn't at home at Greenview Pond, but many ducks 
were, including a few Gadwall and lots of Green-winged Teal, and just 
before we left the Loggerhead Shrike finally showed up. 1010 Pond added a 
couple of American Wigeon, and West Lake still had a single male Redhead 
among numerous Canvasback and another pair of Wigeon. We also spotted a 
mixed flock of Chipping and White-throated Sparrows along West Lake Road 
as we drove back up toward 1010 Road.

This finished Wake County for us; we decided to pass on Crabtree and 
Brier Creek officially and headed for Chatham County, specifically 
Horton's Pond. Horton's was particularly impressive today, starting with 
at least EIGHT Red-headed Woodpeckers! We also saw a Pileated and heard 
at least one more. Two Red-heads were in the big stand of dead trees out 
front, while the Pileateds and the other six Red-heads were further back 
where Horton's Pond becomes less of a pond and more of a marsh. We picked 
up Swamp Sparrow here too, and a wren in the marsh turned out to be a 
House (not Marsh) Wren. Then, on the way back, we found a massive mixed- 
species foraging flock that included two Brown Creepers and a Blue-headed 
Vireo among both Brown-headed and White-breasted Nuthatches and more 
loads of kinglets, chickadees, and titmice. We also spotted a Hermit 
Thrush and heard a calling Winter Wren and singing Pine Warblers in the 
woods here, and flushed an unidentified Accipiter that flew across the 
pond. We left with 64 species for the day, and it was only just past 
noon. Crosswind Marina added four more.

Unfortunately, we had to struggle for species the rest of the day. Our 
only new species at Ebenezer Point was a very distant Horned Grebe. We 
stopped at the R&T Grill (best burgers in the Triangle) for lunch, and 
were treated to a Black Vulture, species #70, soaring over the parking 
lot while we were waiting for our food. We couldn't find Goldeneye 
anywhere around Seaforth, and a probable Fox Sparrow in the woods eluded 
confirmation, though we did add Herring Gull from two immatures loafing 
among a big flock of Ring-bills on the beach near the tip of the 
peninsula. And several stops along Big Woods Road brought us only a small 
group of Bonaparte's Gulls (which we surprisingly couldn't find from 
Ebenezer); even the Pacific-slope Flycatcher spot held no new species  
this time. Finally, Old Hope Valley Farm let us down: no Field Sparrows 
in the powerline cut, no Brown Thrasher in the brush, no Snipe on the 
mudflats, no Bald Eagles over the lake, no owls calling after dark. We 
did get a beautiful sunset, though. Guess we should have tried Brickhouse 
Road instead...

Good birding,

Josh



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

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