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Ebenezer and OHVF, Jordan Lake, NC
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Ebenezer and OHVF, Jordan Lake, NC
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 15:49:21 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi C-birders,
Norm Budnitz suggested the other day that this might be our last really
nice weekend before winter rolls in, so we took advantage and went
birding this morning. Another Norm, new Duke Botany grad student and NM
immigrant Norm Douglas, came along, bringing his dog Tahoe.
On the way down 751, we spotted two separate raptors flying across the
road. Both looked like large accipiters, probably Cooper's Hawks. Then,
at one point where a creek crossed under the road, a HUGE raptor circled
over it and landed in a tree. Bald Eagle! An immature bird. Norm snapped
a photo before it took off and left the area.
We arrived at Ebenezer Point shortly after it opened, and started
scanning the area immediately. The first thing we noticed was a late
Forster's Tern perched on one of the pilings around the swimming area. A
bunch of Ring-billed Gulls and two Killdeer were loafing nearby on the
beach. Shortly afterwards we had sightings of Doug Shadwick and an
unidentified birder, who later identified himself as Bob Perkins. Doug
wandered off after making sure we had seen the tern, while Bob joined us
for a while.
We scanned the water thoroughly, but found no sign of any loons, grebes
(other than a lone Pied-billed), or non-Ring-billed gulls. Not a single
Bonaparte's Gull yet. A lone American Coot was probably our only
waterbird. An adult Bald Eagle did fly in off the lake and give us
beautiful views, and we later spied a distant younger eagle across the
water. A few landbirds wandered in and out, primarily Yellow-rumped
Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. A flock of chickadees over near the
picnic tables yielded four woodpecker species, which for westerner Norm D
included his lifer Red- bellied and second-ever Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
Bob followed us across the street to the ponds, which were utterly
duckless. No Bufflehead yet, not even a Ruddy! Another mixed insectivore
flock wandered by, including a Golden-crowned Kinglet. Bob left us after
that, heading east for Lake Wheeler and the nearby ponds, while we drove
north to Old Hope Valley Farm.
I took a slight detour on our way up to show the Norms where Horton's
Pond was, as neither had ever been there. The big grassy field on
Horton's Pond Road turned out to be a hot spot, as we spotted a female/
immature type Northern Harrier on our way through, then an American
Kestrel on our way back! Also on the way back, we saw a raptor perched
low on a snag at the edge of the field; it was slim and long-tailed, and
looked very pale underneath. It took off and flapped rapidly into the
woods. We debated whether it was the Harrier again, with its underside
looking paler than before due to the angle of the sun, or whether it was
a Cooper's Hawk, as its flight into the woods and quick wingbeats seemed
to indicate.
OHVF was a slightly scary place to visit today, as there were a number of
hunters around. Fortunately, all were bow-hunters, who seem to be a
little more responsible and less reckless and alcohol-prone than many of
their gun-toting bretheren. Maybe arrows cost more than bullets. One of
them warned us that next week is muzzle-loading shotgun season, and that
the real guns are allowed the following week; better bird that area only
on Sundays for a while... This same hunter said he was at OHVF last year
when one hunter was shot and killed by another one. We made sure to keep
the dog really close to us, and stayed out in the open.
Once we got used to our archerous company, we had a good time. The
powerline cut was soggy with sparrows! Virtually all Song and Swamp, with
a few clusters of White-throated, Field, and Dark-eyed Junco thrown in.
Very few warblers, although Norm B. spotted a Palm, and we heard a Common
Yellowthroat chip from a patch of cattails. At one point, a Sharp-
shinned Hawk flew out over our heads and circled several times, giving us
beautiful views and chances for a few photos; the sparrows went abruptly
and completely silent for several minutes after that... The water itself
was pretty quiet, just several Great Blue Herons, a pair of Coots, and a
scattering of Double-crested Cormorants. Lots of American Goldfinches -
another lifer for western Norm - were pigging out on the seeds of Trumpet
Creepers along the old railroad bridge. While sitting on the end of the
bridge, we watched a kettle of mixed Turkey and Black Vultures form and
disperse.
No dragonflies, but tons of butterflies! Common Buckeyes all along the
trail, and a couple of (Clouded?) Sulfurs, and one very faded Fritillary
of some kind. One patch of large purple Asters was especially busy, with
several Pearl Crescents and a myriad of skippers of at least three
species present; someone who actually knows something about skippers
might want to check them out... Lots of bees were in the same patch
competing with the skippers and butterflies, a few different species of
these as well.
Maybe the highlight of the trip, though, came shortly before we reached
the water. I spotted a clashing patch of green in a stand of dark brown
dead weed stalks. A Green Treefrog, Hyla cinerea; common enough on the
Coastal Plain, but much less so up in the Piedmont. The Norms and I spent
several minutes tromping around in these dead brown weeds, taking photos
and noting how terrible the frog's green coloring was for camouflage in
the brown weeds. However, when we stopped to admire it again on our way
back uphill, Norm D. spotted a second one, then Norm B. spotted two more,
right in the weeds where we had been tromping around to get better looks
at the first one! Guess that camouflage isn't so bad after all...
Good birding, and more!
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/