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scoping for sparrows at the Butner Gamelands
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: scoping for sparrows at the Butner Gamelands
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 18:28:16 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi Carolinabirders,
Set out this morning with carolinabirder Jason Sircely and fellow grad
students Tracy Feldman and Cait Coberly for the Butner Gamelands. It was
pretty cold when we set out, with the sun still behind the trees, and
much of the surface water was frozen; no Wood Ducks on the pond. However,
we had good looks in my scope at a Red-headed Woodpecker, and saw a few
Swamp Sparrows and an out-of-place Winter Wren in the weedy fields uphill
from there. We were pretty amused by the handicapped-access hunting
blind with a massive, 3-foot wide, 2-foot deep, water-filled pothole in
front of it; even we somewhat athletic and young folk had to watch our
step to get past it.
Then birded down Brickhouse Road. Massive numbers of sparrows and
Northern Cardinals in the shrubby road margins, with smaller numbers of
other species. An accipiter zipped over the road going east; not long
afterwards a Northern Harrier coursed by going west, and then a Black
Vulture just hung directly overhead while we admired. Most of the
sparrows were White-throated, but we found several young White-crowned
(no adults, though), Field, Song, and Dark-eyed Juncos with little
trouble, and saw a couple of probable Savannahs and maybe a Chipping too.
Surprisingly, I managed to get several sparrows in my spotting scope for
all four of us to enjoy, every species except the putative Chippie. When
I mentioned the possibility of Fox Sparrow as well, Tracy said it would
be a lifer for him, and that he'd buy me lunch if I found one for him;
Caitlin said she had never seen one either.
Then turned down the loop road (Loop #1 in the Triangle Birder's Guide)
through the swamp. Found a second Red-headed Woodpecker. Then we picked a
Fox Sparrow (our ninth sparrow species of the day!) out of a birdy,
woodsy patch, but Tracy saw it before I did and so weaseled out of his
lunch promise (even though I identified it first). This sparrow stayed in
the scope for all of us to admire as well. Further along, we found
ourselves in the midst of 4-5 more Red- heads. I found (and also scoped)
a Hermit Thrush, and behind that a flock of a few dozen Rusty Blackbirds
picking through the wet leaf litter.
My friends (at least one of whom had skipped breakfast) decided that
lunch came next. We adventured into a new Honduran place (in what must
have formerly been a McDonald's or similar establishment) on Roxboro
Street called El Pequeno, that was actually impressively good despite its
humble setting. I love finding good restaurants that are located
conveniently on the way to good birding spots...
After taking Tracy back to school, I rejoined Jason and Cait at Rolling
View. Very little there: Ring-billed Gulls, Pied-billed Grebes, and the
usual landbirds, including a Winter Wren. We then concluded the day near
some bridge over the Beaver Dam arm of Falls Lake (Old Weaver Trail,
maybe?). Not many new birds, but lots of kinglets of both stripes and
many Brown-headed Nuthatches, and a Belted Kingfisher, a hundred or so
more Ring-billed Gulls, and a few Great Blue Herons on the lake. A
distant Sharp-shinned Hawk flying high above the far shoreline was the
day's last bird.
Good birding,
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/