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Durham spring count II



Hi Carolinabirders,

I started with my friend Cait Coberly at the frontage road off 15 near 
I-85. We parked at the gate and walked from there to almost the end of 
the powerline cut. Very little action until nearly the end, where Cait 
was very excited about the female Osprey in its nest on the powerlines. I 
was almost as excited about my first Yellow Warbler of the year, singing 
(invisibly) from the lakeside willow trees. And we both liked the Ground 
Skink (Scincella lateralis) that I found under a log on our way back to 
the car, even though it autotomized its tail in Cait's hand.

Next, we headed to Will Suitt Road and hiked down the railroad tracks. As 
with Will's team, we found virtually no migrants; tons of Yellow-rumps 
with some thinly scattered Prothonotary and Yellow-throated Warblers and 
an Ovenbird or two. High point of the day: three Prothonotaries, 
apparently a foraging female and two competing males, sharing a small 
willow tree about 20 feet away for at least 10 minutes! Best look I've 
ever had outside of a mist net! Two more Osprey nests (one apparently 
unfinished), and picked up one each Yellow-throated and Solitary Vireo 
amongst the Red-eyed. Heard both tanagers but saw neither. A few 
interesting insects and a pair of Fence Lizards, one a breeding-plumage 
male with a nice metallic blue throat, the other an immature that let 
Cait scoop it up from under its log.

Cait hitched a ride home from the countdown with Norm Budnitz, but due to 
low turnout some good spots were still uncounted. Sandy Cash and I 
decided to remedy some of that by birding West Point for a while. It was 
early afternoon, so birding other than Red-eyed Vireos was slow; we 
admired many wildflowers, including some just-sprouted Indian Pipes, and 
a few butterflies, including a Harvester. Sandy tried to follow some 
movement around a tree, only to have the source, a Five-Lined Skink, 
nearly climb over his hand that was resting on the tree's trunk! We 
eventually were rewarded with great looks at a Yellow-throated Warbler 
that landed in the trail in front of us, and a pair of Cliff Swallows 
near the dam. Heard my first Acadian Flycatcher of the year near the 
road.

Sandy left, and I wrapped up my day at the Little River Impoundment area 
on Old Oxford Highway. Actually, I mostly birded along the dirt road 
across O.O.H. from the Impoundment parking area. Beatiful woods here; 
found Jack-in-the-Pulpits flowering, for the second day in a row after 
not seeing them for at least three years! Butterflies included a couple 
of Red Admirals and a Zebra Swallowtail, herps an Eastern Box Turtle and 
lots of tadpoles, odonates a huge Swamp Darner. I flushed a huge, silent 
bird from one grove of trees, and soon thereafter heard "Who cooks for 
you?" ringing through the woods. The road ended at some kind of field 
planted for game, with corn and such; a Wild Turkey was taking advantage, 
possibly the same one that was gobbling as I walked back to the car. 
Heard a pair of Solitary Vireos singing back and forth, and a few 
American Redstarts, possibly my only real migrants of the day.

My two best discoveries came in the same small clearing, though. I 
spotted a medium-sized dragonfly with a yellow-striped abdomen and white 
stigmata on its wings: female Spangled Skimmer, a species I'd never seen 
before! I took out my camera and moved in for a photo. I only got one, 
then chased the jumpy critter around the clearing for a few minutes 
hoping for another. Then something white in the grass caught my eye. 
Under a mound of dead grass, a large depression holding at least half a 
dozen big white eggs! Near a river or pond, I'd guess Canada Goose; but 
given the habitat, I have to think the nest belonged to a Wild Turkey! I 
resisted the urge to take a picture (afraid I might give the nest's 
location away to a predator). Also resisted the urge to take an egg home 
to incubate ;--) and circled out of the clearing, acting like I didn't 
see anything...

Found a Spotted Sandpiper and a few other landbirds around the muddy 
wetlands near the parking area. Then, just as I returned to the car, had 
a beautiful look, with the evening sun behind me, at the previously 
unseen Scarlet Tanager singing across the road.

What a day!

Good birding,

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

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