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CarolinaBirds for Monday, April 17, 2006
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Subject: Mystery Meal-of-the-Month Photo
From: "John Ennis" <swampwolf(AT)thebusinessbirder.com>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 7:08am
With apologies to Simon for borrowing his concept, I have just posted the
first...and probably the last...'Mystery Meal-of-the-Month' Photo. To take
a whack at what this happy little guy was eating, go to:
http://thebusinessbirder.com/WarblerMeal.pdf
The pictures were taken at Rice Creek Bridge in Brunswick County.
The winner will receive an autographed photo and a Moonpie.
John Ennis
Leland, NC
910-371-9729
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Subject: Caesar's Head birding And Issaqeena (Clemson Forest)
From: "kaye fenlon" <ktfenlon(AT)hotmail.com>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 9:25am
Carolinabirders,
As I write the White-throats are singing...they usually leave my yard around
the first of May so I feel blessed to have had them for almost six months.
A trip up to Caesar's Head yesterday resulted in a lifer for me...
Louisianna Waterthrush. We also heard numerous Black-throated Green,
several Hooded, 2 Black &White and a few N Parula Warblers. I noticed that
the leaves are just coming at the upper elevations at Caesar's Head. We
hiked in about 2 mi. on the Jones Gap Trail and heard the above, but hiking
in a just short way on the Frank Coggins trail across from the visitor
center, I heard several Hooded and as we completed the rest of the trail I
could not believe the number of Black-throated Greens. Ovenbirds were
plentiful too.
A sunrise trip back into Issaqeena was well worth the effort. I got good
looks at Prairie Warblers for the first time. Also saw or heard the
following:
Yellow -throated Warbler
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
N Parula
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Phoebe
Rufous-sided Tohee
Field Sparrow
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
White-eyed Vireo
Philadephia Vireo
Wood ducks
White-throated Sparrow
Bluebird
Belted Kingfisher
A Great-horned Owl calling at 5 AM Sun. was my wake up call! We have not
heard one in our yard in quite awhile.
The Bluebirds that took over the Chickadee house now have a clutch of eggs.
Hopefully the same Chickadees that were in that box now have a clutch of
eggs in another box on the other side of the yard. A pair of Pine Warblers
are constant visitors to the peanutbutter suet on a pinecone hanging on our
back deck. They are almost tame...waiting on the deck railing 3 feet away as
I load it!
I have tried several times to attract the Bluebirds to mealworms, sunflower
hearts and peanutbutter suet with no luck. I have used platform feeders, cup
feeders, and even a feeder with a hole only big enough for the Bluebirds.
The Carolina Wrens are loving it!
Thanks to Nathan for the tip on incoming Spring migrants .
Katie Fenlon
Clemson, SC
_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE!
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Subject: Prothonotary Warbler in Asheville
From: mjwestphal <mjwestphal(AT)unca.edu>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 9:36am
I was driving along Lyman Street in Asheville on my way to work this morning
and heard a Prothonotary Warbler out the left window. So I immediately pulled
into the next driveway at Allied Insulating Company and went across the street
to the French Broad River. The bird was singing from a tree directly across
the river from Riverview Station at 191 Lyman Street. There were a bunch of
Cedar Waxwings flying around there as well, but the Prothonotary seemed to
want its personal space. I think the riverside trail at the French Broad
River Park at the corner of Amboy Road and Lyman Street goes along the river
as far as the place where the bird was. I know this is probably a ho hum bird
for you folks down the hill, but it's always a nice bird to get in the
mountains.
If you happen to go there, check under the Amboy Road bridge and see if the
Cliff Swallows are back. I haven't had a chance to do that, so please let me
know if you see them.
Thanks,
Marilyn
Marilyn Westphal
Environmental Quality Institute
University of North Carolina-Asheville
One University Heights
Asheville, NC 28804
828/251-6823
mjwestphal(AT)unca.edu
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Subject: Raleigh Birds
From: John Connors <John.Connors(AT)ncmail.net>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 10:41am
Hi all. On Saturday at Durant Nature Park in north Raleigh I observed 2
Magnolia Warblers...a female and a transition-plumaged male; also
Yellow-throated Warbler, Ovenbird, Blue-headed Vireo, and many nesting
Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. On Sunday, on the newly opened Greenway
Boardwalk at the Wetlands Mitigation site along Crabtree Creek near the
Buckeye Trail (we have to name this site!), there were 1 adult Snowy
Egret, 1 immature Little Blue Heron, and a few Barn Swallow, White-Eyed
and Red-eyed Vireo and Gnatcatcher. So far a poor migration, haven't
heard or seen a Wood Thrush yet.
Off topic, but at all sites there have been impressive numbers of
butterflies, particularly Swallowtails, especially Tiger Swallowtails.
At Durant I found 2 'puddles' of swallowtails with more than 50
each...one with Tiger, Spicebush, Pipevine and Zebra all on the gound in
one spot. Last year there was a dearth of swallowtail all year.
John Connors @ NC Museum of Natural Sciences
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Subject: Yellow-throated Warbler at White Pines Nature Preserve
From: "Dorothy Pugh" <DorothyPugh(AT)aol.com>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 11:26am
Karl Gottschalk and I saw, and I photographed, a Yellow-throated Warbler
at White Pines Nature Preserve, Chatham County, NC. There were lots of
unfamiliar bird songs in the air: we only wished we could have seen more
birds.
There's a link to that photo on my home page.
Dorothy Pugh
www.dpughphoto.com
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Subject: Indigo Bunting plumages
From: Doug Pratt <Doug.Pratt(AT)ncmail.net>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 11:48am
Hi folks: Indigo Buntings are rather like European Starlings in one
respect: they gain a strikingly different coloration from fall to
spring by feather wear rather than molt. When I lived in Louisiana, the
early migrant Indigos were nearly all "calico" to a greater or lesser
extent. They got bluer as the seasons progressed. The fresh feathers
in the fall have broad brownish tips, which are weaker than the blue
part of the feather (melanin is a strengthening agent) and so wear away
fairly quickly. So a mostly blue Indigo bunting with some brown (or
often buff by spring because of fading) feathers is not necessarily a
first-year bird. There are probably ways to distinguish first-year
males from spring adults, but I don't know what they are. Sibley give
the timing as Sep-April for blotchy males, and Apr-August for all-blue
ones. -Doug
--
H. Douglas Pratt, Curator of Birds
Research and Collections
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
11 West Jones Street
Raleigh, NC 27601-1029
Phone: (919)733-7450 ext. 728
E-mail: doug.pratt(AT)ncmail.net
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Subject: Prairie warbler
From: <sgibeau(AT)bellsouth.net>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 2:50pm
Today at beaver lake, Asheville, NC, there were at least 2 prairie warblers
singing. Also had first of year Green Heron there.
Stu Gibeau
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Subject: Rose-breasted Grosbeak at Riverbend Park
From: Dwayne Martin <redxbill(AT)charter.net>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 3:11pm
After the storm passed here at Riverbend Park (northern Catawba Co.), I looked
out at the feeder to find a beautiful male Rose-breasted Grosbeak eating
sunflower seeds. It was a nice birthday gift!
Dwayne
*************
Dwayne Martin
Taylorsville, NC
redxbill(AT)charter.net
Catwaba County Park Ranger
Riverbend Park - Conover, NC
jdmartin(AT)catawbacountync.gov
http://www.catawbacountync.gov/depts/parks/
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Subject: TV Nesting In Old Buildings
From: Scott Hartley <picoides(AT)alltel.net>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 5:09pm
Rob - black vultures nested in the upstairs of the old Shaw cabin off
the Buckquarter Creek Trail at Eno River State Park. Clyde's experience
turkey hunting, (Clyde maybe the vulture thought your were turkey
vulture hunting:), reminded me of the first time I discovered the black
vultures nesting at Eno. I had not been at Eno very long and was poking
around the Shaw place and decided to take a look upstairs. The stairs
were ladder like in the fact that the stairs went through a hole in the
ceiling so that you had to climb to the last stair to step onto the
upstairs floor. This meant that - depending on your vertical stature -
I'm challenged in this regard - that your head was above the upstairs
floor level as you neared the top of the ladder. When I my head rose
above the upstairs floor I looked around and couldn't see anything as it
was much darker than down stairs and my eyes hadn't adjusted.
Fortunately my hearing was good because a scratching noise and sudden
loud hiss caused me to turn around in time to see the vulture running
toward me wings spread. I promptly fell down the stairs which saved me
from being vomited on.
I went back later and quietly and slowly checked and saw two eggs - this
was 3-7-1990. Two chicks were seen later but I'm not sure if they both
fledged.
Scott Hartley
Weymouth Woods - Sandhills Nature Preserve
Southern Pines, NC
Rob G. wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> B. Bockhahn wrote:
>
> I know I read somewhere about Turkey Vultures nesting in old barns, but I
> was very suprised when one of my co-workers found and photographed one on
> nest in an old barn at Falls Lake, Wake County, north of Raleigh NC.
> They
> had two large eggs laid underneath the rotting floor, the bird must
> have to
> squat and crawl a few feet to get to them for incubation. 10 years
> here
> and I'd never seen it, is this common for the locale?
>
>
> Many yrs. ago a pair of TVs nested regularly on the upper deck of an
> old structure (barn?) at Eno State Park in Durham, often startling
> hikers -- someone here (Edith Tatum??) may recall the details better
> than I do... (even rarer, many yrs. before that, BARN owls nested in a
> structure at Eno St. Pk.)
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}
>
> **Rob Gluck...... Chapel Hill, NC...... thrush(AT)hotmail.com ....
>
> ------------------
> hmmm... obsessing over big, bodacious, black-and-white,
> hard-to-find, pointy-headed woodpeckers??? : - )
> ....VISIT: http://ivorybills.blogspot.com
> ------------------
>
>
>
>
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Subject: Shorebirds at Bottoms (Clemson University)
From: "Paul Champlin" <skua99(AT)hotmail.com>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 5:49pm
Hi folks,
The bottoms site at Clemson University has lowered two of its ponds in the
last day or two (to last ten days or so). Birds pushed in by the blustery
winds of the day include the following:
1 Stilt Sandpiper (basic plumage)
10 Lesser Yellowlegs
1 Greater Yellowlegs
6 Solitary Sandpipers
2 Least Sandpipers
This is one of those hit-and-miss spots that happened to produce today. Any
rain (or better yet T-storms) might produce more goodies. I was able to get
within about 12 feet of each species while in the car.
No outstanding migrants in the area yet. Pretty typical stuff.
Paul
Seneca, SC
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Subject: How neat is this
From: "KC Foggin" <KCFoggin(AT)sc.rr.com>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 7:58pm
For the last two evenings, not 10 feet from my back deck, I've had about a dozen
Waxwings come in and roost for the evening under the leaves of some upper
branches of a Maple tree. I took some photos but haven't checked to see if they
came out as it was getting dark and they are pretty well covered by the leaves
KC Foggin
Socastee
Myrtle Beach SC
www.birdforum.net
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Subject: Some Halifax County birds: Merlin and L. Shrike northwest
Halifax County
From: "Frank Enders" <fkenders(AT)hotmail.com>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 8:01pm
15 April, 2006 a Merlin (female) moved north through Bear Swamp. It stopped
in a beaverpond area, using dead trees as perches from which to scan.
Single Merlins making a beeline north are regular, if rare, in Halifax
County in the period April-May.
(This day only a single Kestrel was seen, whereas the previous week many
small flocks of kestrels were seen both by myself and separately by my
son---who works on the roads here as assistant district engineer for the
NCDOT. Usually the last migrant kestrels are observed here in the third
week of April.)
A Loggerhead Shrike was on electric wires the same day on Tanner Road, a
mile south of Justice Branch Road, not seen previous weeks; headed for a
single cedar east of the road when viewed too closely. Shrikes are becoming
ever more rare here, incoming migrants known usually earlier in season, as
in late February to March.
A group of 3 Green-backed Herons and an Orchard Oriole were new arrivals
this weekend.
The previous week, 3 Black Ducks were notable at Butterwood Creek, just se
of Littleton; and American Egrets first became visible in the marsh east of
I-95 just south of the Enfield exit, at the upper end of Bellamy's Lake.
Even till today, 17 April, no goatsuckers (neither Chucks nor Whips) have
been heard in the predawn hours near where I live (central Halifax County).
The Great Blue Heron Colony on Butterwood Creek, north of Airlie Road, now
seems to have 8 nests, where last year (later in season) I thought there
were but two nests.
The forests here impress me as seriously degraded, too puny both in height
and area. Reminds me of the woodlands around Cordoba, Argentina.
My efforts to grow some Longleaf Pine have been unrewarded so far; rabbits
or rats seem to eat out the bud; now I have some 80 plants protected by
little fences, looking like Piping Plover nests.
Frank Enders, Halifax, NC
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Subject: vulture nests
From: "barbara brooks" <brooksba(AT)visionet.net>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 8:36pm
sorry to be late on chiming in, when I work I am usually too tired to check
email. so I am catching up. several years ago, I was riding behind Orange
Co Speedway and came upon a pair of TV's nesting in an old shed. As I was
on a horse didn't get too close. About 2-3 weeks ago, I was riding at the
gravel pit pond and saw a pair of TV's on the roof of the old farmhouse. 2
stories. The windows are mostly broken out and I was wondering how big an
entrance a vulture would need. The gravel company patched the old metal
roof where it had blown off so no entry there. I have been in the house
(no, not on horse, on foot) and the upstairs is a mess and I am sure it is
even more so. The door is open but I can't see a TV flying up the small
stairway to get to the 2nd floor. I try to look at old abandon buildings
for nests but have only seen the one. Walking the dogs, I heard 2
white-eyed vireos. bbrooks
Barb Brooks, poet
author of the chapbook
"The Catbird Sang"
Black cap, wings slate gray,
feathers dribbled with red.
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Subject: Cardinal eating a lizard????
From: Sfantony20(AT)aol.com
Date: 17 Apr 2006 9:08pm
Did anybody receive this post from me???? No comments????
Tammy Lester
Atlantic Beach, NC
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Subject: Coweeta Hydrologic Lab - Otto, NC (Macon Co.) 04/17/2006
From: "Michael C. Parrish" <pendragon1998(AT)yahoo.com>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 9:48pm
Today, I managed to sneak in a little birding while working out in the
mountains on this beautiful spring day. Broad-winged Hawks seemed to
be out and about today, as I saw one off 441-N near Rabun, GA, and then
had several calling and chasing one another once I actually got to
Coweeta (my Coweeta FOTS). The warblers are going at it up there, at
least at the lower elevations I was at; in one tree (okay, it was a
bushy Rhododendron), I had Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-and-White
Warbler, Northern Parula, Black-throated Green Warbler, and a
Blue-headed Vireo all singing. The BTBW was a FOTS for me at Coweeta,
but I've been seeing/hearing all the others for a good two weeks.
Great birding!
Michael C. Parrish
Watkinsville, GA (Oconee Co.)
http://www.arches.uga.edu/~parrishm/
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Subject: Barred Owl nest cam
From: "R. O. Bierregaard, Jr." <rbierreg(AT)email.uncc.edu>
Date: 17 Apr 2006 10:43pm
Here in Charlotte, have installed a nest cam in a box occupied by a
pair of Barred Owls. The first night's activity was remarkable. 8
prey items were delivered to the 3 young (and Mom, who's taking care
of them in the box). Of the 8, 4 were birds. 2 were Yellow-rumped
Warblers, and the other two might have been young of some larger
birds. One of the young owls--only 12 days old--managed to swallow, I
should say choke down, the whole, headless warbler. (Male owls almost
always eat the heads of the prey they deliver. Call it a carrying
charge--something they take off the "top" --literally!) It was quite
an effort! Mom watched, coaxing him on, and helped out a couple of
times.
Migrating passerines fly at night, landing in forests a few hours
before dawn. Obviously, some of their landings are witnessed by
hungry predators!
We are following 37 breeding pairs, and know the nest locations for
30 of them. Some young have already "branched," while some are still
in their cavities.
Details of our study, albeit a year out-of-date, are on my website
(URL below). Navigate to the "Birds of Prey" page, and then "Barred
Owls."
--
Rob Bierregaard
Biology Dept.
UNC-Charlotte
9201 University City Blvd.
Charlotte NC 28223
704 333 2405
http://www.bioweb.uncc.edu/bierregaard
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