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A good Saturday in the Triangle area
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: A good Saturday in the Triangle area
- From: rperkins@fayettevillenc.com (Robert C. Perkins)
- Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1999 15:00:13 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Thanks to directions provided by Steven Shultz and Josh Rose, among others,
I made good use of my last possible 1999 birding trip to the Triangle area.
I saw 35 species of birds, including three life birds.
I started my day at first light at the Farrington Road bridge on Lake
Jordan. The highlight there was an immature bald eagle. I spent most of
an hour at Ebenezer Church point and had the area to myself. There were a
few horned grebes way out in the lake and lots of land birds, including an
eastern phoebe and a golden-crowned kinglet. On my way out I stopped at
the waste treatment ponds and looked at the buffleheads.
Heading east I found my way to West Lake Road pond and spent considerable
time looking at the canvasbacks, ring-necked ducks, gadwalls, and American
wigeon. If my memory is correct, the "cans" were the first I have seen
since I left Arkansas in 1969. Whee!
I checked the mess at Greenview Pond and did find the tundra swans, along
with mallards and Canada geese, in the upper end. Beautiful! I also
stopped at Lake Wheeler and checked out the ruddy ducks in the upper end.
I went on to the NCSU dairy pond (found the right place this time!) and
spent time watching the northern shovelers (life bird), lesser scaup,
ring-necked ducks, and bufflehead. Another birder, whose name I failed to
write down (so now I can't thank him publicly), relocated the kestrel that
we saw fly by so we were able to get a positive id. He also pointed out
two common snipe (life bird) that were foraging along the edge of the pond.
As he and I were both starting to leave, a northern harrier flew in and
landed in a tree, giving us lots of opportunity to study it through our
scopes. And no, I didn't try to sort through all of the blackbirds at the
barns!
I checked 1010 pond on my way home. A great blue heron was in residence
but no ducks. I also stopped at the pond on Rte. 55 outside Angier. It
hosted ring-necked ducks and gadwalls, both of which have been there since
October.
Bob
--------------------------------------------------
Robert C. Perkins, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Methodist College, Fayetteville, NC 28311
910-630-7037 rperkins@methodist.edu