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Loads of landbirds at . . . Ebenezer Point?!



Hi Carolinabirders,

Ebenezer Point is one of my favorite birding locations in the Triangle. I 
like it for its great views of Jordan Lake and all the waterbirds. I like 
it for its panoramic view of the forests around the occasional raptors 
soaring over it. I like it for the cool breezes blowing in off the water.

However, for landbirds Ebenezer is far from the best place around. It's 
usually pretty slow in that department. During last fall's NAMC, I had to 
scramble to get just four or five warbler species for the day.

Today, this fall's NAMC, was different.

The day started inauspiciously. I had been up until midnight the previous 
night - after all, one can't just walk out on a good game of 
"psychiatrist" - and so got off to a slow start, arriving at Horton Pond 
too late for owling. I listened to what's left of the dawn chorus, 
normal resident passerines such as Carolina Wren and Rufous-sided Towhee. 
I also heard a Wood Duck squeaking as I flushed it from the floodplain 
downstream of the pond, fully expecting to see many more at my next 
stop...

Next stop was the settling ponds on Farrington Road near Poplar Point. 
Usually a good spot for ducks, particularly Woodies at this time of year. 
However, the ponds were empty! No Woodies, no Ruddies, not even a 
Mallard! Just a lone Wood Thrush calling sporadically from the other side.  
Since Ebenezer didn't open until 8 AM, I loitered around the ponds. 
Finally things started to pick up, starting with a mixed chickadee- 
titmouse-Pine Warbler flock, followed by a huge mixed flock of 
blackbirds: 285 birds total, apparently mostly Red-winged, but with many 
starlings and grackles and probably some cowbirds. Finally, some ducks 
flew overhead, but didn't stop; one was an American Black Duck, while the 
other three were smaller, more slender, and lacked any conspicuous wing 
markings. I suspect Northern Pintail, but it's a bit early for them 
around here...

Finally Ebenezer PSRA opened, and I headed for the parking lot at the end 
of the Point. The first birds of note were several Northern Flickers who 
flushed upon my arrival, but, being a waterbird person, I grabbed my 
scope and started scanning the water. I saw... absolutely nothing. Well, 
almost. A couple of Double-crested Cormorants, and a distant small tern, 
most likely a Forster's. Not even a Ring-billed Gull.

Then I realized that a few little call notes were coming from behind me. 
I was standing on the concrete walkway with steel railings that runs from 
the far right-hand corner of the parking lot down toward the water 
(actually into the water, which covers the end of the walkway now). The 
walkway runs under a patch of trees - one big dead pine, some smaller 
live pines, and an assortment of little deciduous things - where the 
woods peter out and are replaced by mowed grass and pavement. I spotted 
another couple of Pine Warblers, then something with a yellow breast with 
dark streaks, either a Magnolia or Cape May; it was gone before I could 
confirm this. Then an American Redstart, and next to it some larger 
greenish bird with yellow undertail coverts; it also disappeared before I 
could clinch an ID. A tanager, maybe? The flock realized that the forest 
had run out, reversed direction, and headed back into the more extensive 
woods. This pattern would repeat itself all day, the probable reason why 
I wound up seeing so much.

A few starlings were hanging around in the big dead pine all morning, and 
fooled me a few times mimicking other birds' calls: robin, pewee, and so 
on. I heard a quiet little Red-headed Woodpecker rendition and thought 
this another bit of mimicry, until I looked up and saw a patch of bright 
white. And then a second one. Two Red-headed Woodpeckers, a bright red- 
headed adult and a gray-headed youngster! This happened as another group 
of small insectivores hit my little grove: Hairy Woodpecker, Blue-gray 
Gnatcatcher, Yellow-throated Warbler, and a few more Pines and Redstarts. 
Another flock came through later, with most of the same species except 
that the Yellow-throated was gone, replaced by a pair of Cape May 
Warblers.

Around 9 AM, expecting the landbirds to settle down, I took a bathroom 
break. Before going in, I snuck around back and scanned inlet near the 
beach, which by noon would be covered in sunbathers and swimmers. Nothing 
on the water, as before. I heard a Killdeer call from down the beach. 
Then another call, with the Killdeer: a little raspy "breet?". I looked 
and saw a peep land on the closest corner of the beach. It had yellow 
legs, and as I studied it I wished for another shorebird nearby so I 
could gague its size. Then, as if my wish had been heard and answered, a 
basic-plumage Sanderling appeared and chased the peep, now obviously a 
Least Sandpiper! Shorebirds on Ebenezer, will wonders never cease?

I returned to the walkway and, hearing no further landbirds (as I 
expected), I returned to scanning the water. I picked up a few more 
species, including a hummingbird which whizzed off the shore and out over 
the lake, and an adult Bald Eagle which soared up the shoreline and over 
the parking lot. An Osprey splashed down on a fish, and a couple of Great 
Egrets flew over the water.

Then, around 10 AM, the landbirds returned, in spades! Yellow Warbler, 
then a female Black-throated Blue, then a male; a pair of Palm Warblers; 
more Redstarts and Cape Mays; a Yellow-throated Vireo. Some of these 
birds kept moving in and out - the Redstarts in particular kept coming 
and going the rest of the morning - while new birds appeared periodically 
over the next two hours. A Prairie Warbler appeared fly-catching from the 
outer twigs. A very hyper-looking Magnolia Warbler showed up. In the 
midst of the action, I remember to look at the water, just in time to see 
a pair of Caspian Terns fly by. Just as things appeared to have slowed 
down, and I was thinking of moving on, I heard chickadees and titmice 
approaching. So which was the bird in the dead pine overhead? Neither; a 
Blackburnian Warbler! Another time, around 11 AM, as I'm considering 
leaving for lunch, a bird nearly bounces off my baseball cap: female 
Black-and-White Warbler! And at noon, when there couldn't possibly be any 
more birds I hadn't already seen, I get a new bird for my NC list: 
Chestnut-sided Warbler! I finished the day with 15 warbler species, 13 of 
them in that single grove of trees!

Finally, around 1 PM, the action subsided, and my grumbling stomach 
pulled me away towards the picnic area and my leftover refried beans from 
Las Palmas which passed for lunch today. I ate and relaxed, and wondered 
what to do for the afternoon, and heard a little unfamiliar call. The 
call turned out to be another starling creation, but while I was looking 
for that I saw a bird perched in the subcanopy. Medium-sized, yellowish, 
then it turned and showed jet-black wings and tail: Scarlet Tanager! I 
investigated the area further, and found another treasure trove: a female 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a pair of Red-eyed Vireos, and a Yellow-breasted 
Chat!

I spend a couple of hours back over by Horton's Pond, driving the road 
and walking back into the woods along the pond, finding nothing more 
noteworthy than a photogenic little water snake. I did hear my only 
White-breasted Nuthatch of the day. So I returned to the spot near the 
picnic tables where the excitement had been. A vireo is still there. I 
wait a while, and the tanager shows back up again. Then a less 
conspicuous bird flanks it: a Swainson's Thrush! A second Scarlet Tanager 
joins the first. I finally figured out the reason for this little 
gathering: a small deciduous tree, just downhill from the most inland 
picnic table, loaded with berries that the vireos, tanagers, thrush, and 
presumably grosbeak and chat were all eating. Might have been a mulberry, 
or maybe cherry although it didn't have serrated leaves.

I eventually ran out of steam and daylight and returned here to Durham, 
but with such a haul: 15 warblers, and 71 species total! If I could find 
this much just between Ebenezer and Horton Pond, I wonder how many birds 
were at Old Hope Valley Farm this morning? It just goes to show, anyplace 
can be a birding hotspot on the right day...

Good birding!

Josh



Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/