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Falls Lake 8/10
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Falls Lake 8/10
- From: "Will Cook" <cwcook@duke.edu>
- Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 08:32:25 -0400
- Organization: Duke University, Durham, NC
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
On Saturday, 19 of us visited Falls Lake in search of shorebirds. The
first stop at the Hickory Hill boat ramps on Redwood Road was the most
productive, though we didn't see anything unusual -- a few Semipalmated
Plovers, Pectoral and Least Sandpipers, etc. We saw a couple of migrant
warblers in the trees -- Prairie and Yellow.
We continued to the RR trestle (south) area, accessed at the 90 degree
bend in Redwood Road. The Ellerbe Creek mudflats near the tracks were
very dry and grown up in sedges, but we eventually found some mudflats
after the 2-mile hike along the tracks to the bridge over the Neuse River.
Unfortunately, the Neuse River mudflats didn't have any shorebirds, apart
from a few Lesser Yellowlegs and Solitary Sandpipers. The RR trestle area
would be better if the lake were another foot or two higher. Landbirding
wasn't any better, though we did see lots of Chimney Swifts and Cliff and
Barn Swallows overhead. Butterflies were also scarce, but we saw hundreds
of dragonflies (mostly Eastern Pondhawks), helped a young Yellow-bellied
Slider cross the train tracks, and found a Green Tree Frog in the sedge
flats (it posed nicely for photos).
--
Charles W. "Will" Cook w 919-660-7423
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook cwcook@duke.edu
Box 90340, Biology Dept., Duke Univ., Durham, NC 27708