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Brickhouse Rd. birds



Five of us went to the gamelands at the end of Brickhouse Road (Durham Co. 
NC, near Falls Lake) Saturday morning (10/23).  As usual, the place was 
hopping with sparrows, including 5+ White-crowned.  This is one of the few 
spots in the Triangle area where they reliably winter.  

Ducks and hawks seemed to constantly fill the air - we saw hordes of 
Woodies, with a few Mallards and about 10 Am. Wigeon, about 6 Bald Eagles, 
2 N. Harriers, several Red-tails, with plenty of Turkey and Black 
Vultures.  Several Great Egrets and GBHs sailed by, too. Oddly enough, we 
didn't see a single duck on the water (unless you count PB Grebes as 
"ducks" :-)  ).  The lower fields were flooded as were the roads in 
places, so we didn't explore much down there.

Looking across the Knap of Reeds Creek arm of the lake, we saw about 15 
Great Egrets sitting in bushes on the opposite shore - a little late for 
such large numbers, especially considering how flooded the lake is.  We 
also found a somewhat late Green Heron near the beaver pond.

The highlight bird for me was an Orange-crowned Warbler - only about the 
third or fourth I've seen in the Triangle.  Nice day!



--
Charles W. "Will" Cook                w 919-660-7423
cwcook@acpub.duke.edu                 h 919-967-5446
Duke University Botany Dept., Durham, North Carolina
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook