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

Falls Lake 8/10



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