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Lake Crabtree January 6
- To: <carolinabirds@acpub.duke.edu>
- Subject: Lake Crabtree January 6
- From: LisaBirder@aol.com
- Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2001 10:12:38 EST
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
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