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Jordan Lake and Wake County 12/2
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Jordan Lake and Wake County 12/2
- From: "Robert C. Perkins" <rperkins@infi.net>
- Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 16:02:56 -0500
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
I started north from Fayetteville this morning with partly
cloudy skies, some sunshine after ca. 7:30, and then the weather went
downhill from there.
My first stop was Ebenezer Church point on Jordan Lake. The
highlights there were Bonaparte's gulls and a common loon, all way
out on the lake. On my way out I stopped and admired the buffleheads
on the water treatment ponds.
I went up Farrington Road, across Horton's Pond Road, and up Rte
751 to I-40. I saw a number of great blue herons along the way, but
nothing out of the ordinary. Turning east on I-40 I made my way to
Lake Crabtree, where I found a few coots, a couple of buffleheads way
out on the lake, and three pied-billed grebes in the upper end near
the road.
Since my target for the day was ducks, I went north on Airport
Road to Brier Creek Reservoir, where I found a bunch of ring-necked
ducks and a small flock of Canada geese.
After a quick (also useless) stop at REI, I went east on I-40 to
Lake Wheeler Road. My first stop there was the NCSU dairy farm pond.
I found buffleheads, ring-necked ducks, and a few lesser scaup. A
few drops of rain had begun to fall before I got to the pond.
Because the rain began to increase, I didn't stop at Lake Wheeler or
Greenview Pond. Instead I went on to West Lake Road pond, where I
found lots of ducks, in the following order of abundance:
ring-necked, American wigeon, and canvasbacks. The rain prevented me
from unlimbering my scope, so I sat in the car and watched for
possibly a half hour. In addition to the ducks already mentioned, I
found a bufflehead drake and a pair (reasonably certain) of gadwalls.
I located what I thought was a drake gadwall and then a hen gadwall
(I could see the white speculum). However, when I looked for the
gadwalls a second time they had disappeared into the gloom and the
mess of wigeons.
As I drove back to Fayetteville, the rain increased from light
to moderate, so I made no stops. Still, the trip was successful. I
always enjoy buffleheads and canvasbacks.
Bob
--
--------------------------------------------------
Robert C. Perkins, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Methodist College, Fayetteville, NC 28311
910-630-7037 rperkins@methodist.edu