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No godwit this AM on Falls Lake at I-85
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: No godwit this AM on Falls Lake at I-85
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 11:25:30 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi C-birders,
This morning between 8 and 9 AM I was at the location on Falls Lake where
Will and Ricky reported the Hudsonian Godwit yesterday. No luck, but
given that the lake is pretty much entirely mud flats at this point, the
bird could still be around. Or there could be something even better
hiding out there... Pectoral Sandpipers seemed almost as common as
Killdeer out there. And I could point my scope at random into the lake
and have a better than even chance of both Great Blue Heron and Great
Egret in the field of view. I picked out several Spotted and Least
Sanpipers and a couple of lone Yellowlegs, one of each type. I also
spotted a couple of distant heat-distorted reddish blobs that I believe
were Dowitchers.
As the water level continues to fall, it may become easier to find
shorebirds by canoe than from land. Even after hiking out along the
powerlines to the location Will described yesterday, there were more
shorebirds off in the distance than up close. Then again, the water may
be too shallow for boats in many places, judging by the increasing number
of carp backs that were sticking out above the water's surface.
And a word of advice: if you visit in the morning like I did, either hike
out along the beach instead of the powerlines, or bring dry shoes and
socks along. The weeds under the powerlines can sure accumulate lots of
dew. Squish, squish, squish, squish...
My contribution to the Great Naming Debate: when a species gets split,
why can't one of the new species retain the old common name? For
instance, everybody's favorite bone of contention, the Blue-headed Vireo,
still has the same LATIN name as before, Vireo solitarius! If they're
going to call it "solitarius" in Latin, why not continue calling it
"Solitary" in English? And I still have Rufous-sided Towhee on my life
list, I don't care how eastern it is!
Good birding,
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/