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Sanderling at Ebenezer; update to Triangle Birder's Guide



Hi C-birders,

The Duke Natural History Society trip today visited Robeson Creek, in
Chatham County along the west side of Jordan Lake. This spot is listed in
the Triangle Birder's Guide
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/tbg/hankschapel.html
but the directions there are out of date. Robeson Creek is part of the
Hank's Chapel/Gum Springs Church Road section of the TBG; but since that
was written, US 64 has been split into business and bypass roads going
through Pittsboro, and the turnoff into this area, Dee Farrell Road, no
longer intersects 64. Now you either have to take the first left west of
the Haw River, the name of which I can't remember (something Trace), and
then turn left from *there* onto Dee Farrell; or take 64 business and turn
left on Hank's Chapel Road.

Anyway, after figuring all that out, we followed Will's directions to a
rare tree called the Chalk Maple (Acer leucoderme). En route, we heard a
Pileated Woodpecker and a Flicker, Norm heard a Downy, and the whole group
got to enjoy an adult Red-headed and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, so great
fun on the woodpecker front. A couple of Eastern Phoebes were fueding in
the canopy at one point, and a kingfisher clattered down the creek at
another. Lots of cool mosses, liverworts, other plants, and fungi, and one
Black Rat Snake.

Most of the group left from there, but Norm and I grabbed some burgers at
the R&T Grill and took them to Ebenezer. A few Bonaparte's Gulls flitted
offshore; otherwise, the lake was full of windsurfers (not jet-skis, thank
God) and not birds. But as we left, we drove by the swimming area and
spotted a Sanderling on the beach!

We took a few stabs at finding other birds after that, but the Poplar
Point settling ponds were barren: 4 Mallards, that's all. Old Hope Valley
Farm Road was lined with pickups and SUVs despite it being a Sunday. And
our one attempt to visit the Third Fork Creek bottomlands was stymied when
we ran into an unexpectedly wide tributary with no way to cross it dry-
footedly. We finally decided that our birding karma had run dry, and
headed home.

Good birding,

Josh


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

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