[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Lake Crabtree January 6



Hi there!

Well, it was just Vernon and me for the monthly bird walk at Lake Crabtree on 
Saturday. We saw a lot of really nice birds, despite the cold (pronounced 
COLD!) weather.

A Great Blue Heron was hunkered down on top of one of the Osprey nesting 
platforms, looking extremely cold and irate, probably wishing he'd gone 
further South.

I learned from Vernon how to identify a couple of different sparrow species; 
one of my problem areas in birding. We saw White-Throated, Song, and a Fox 
Sparrow, who was declared "Bird of the day". But he would lose that title 
later on.

We scanned the ice, and picked out a big adult Bald Eagle just hanging out on 
the far side of the lake. None of the waterfowl around him seemed to be too 
concerned with his presence. Sadly, most of the ducks were too far away to 
ID. Time to start saving up for a spotting scope. <g>

As we walked through the woods, we pished out a flock of no less than 8 
Golden-Crowned Kinglets. They congregated in a tree just a few feet above my 
head. Since I've seen exactly one GCK in my birding lifetime, this was a 
major treat for me.

We saw Downy, we saw Red Bellied, we saw Flicker, we saw Yellow Bellied 
Sapsucker. I don't remember seeing any Nuthatches. I did see a small bird 
creeping up a tree trunk, that at first I pegged as a Brown Headed Nuthatch. 
But a look with the binocs revealed... a Brown Creeper! The first one I've 
seen in about four years.

So Mr. Fox Sparrow lost his title, Bird of the Day, to Mr. Brown Creeper. :-)

After Vernon and I parted ways, I drove up and parked in one of the business 
lots on Aviation Pkwy, and hiked back to check out the section of lake on the 
west side of the overpass. Saw a couple of Great Blue Herons chasing each 
other, and a crow chasing a Red-Shouldered hawk.

I wanted to stay and scan the trees for Eagles, but the cold wind across the 
lake was making my eyes water too much to use the binocs. So I called it a 
day and headed back to the car. 

BTW, if anyone collects hubcaps, there were about a dozen of them on the west 
shoulder of the overpass. Nice ones, too. :-)

Lisa G.
Raleigh, NC