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CarolinaBirds for Sunday, August 20, 2006
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Subject: Southern Pines Scissor-tailed FC
From: "John Ennis" <swampwolf(AT)thebusinessbirder.com>
Date: 20 Aug 2006 6:51am
I arrived yesterday about 2P to try to get a picture of the STFC...I had
little hope of getting close enough to get a good picture but thought I'd
try anyway...I got lucky...
It was 89 degrees and hotter than blazes...the only birds were the 6+
juvenile Grasshopper Sparrows along the rail fence...
I felt sorry for the little guys...they all had their mouths open...
I left to forage in the cool of a restaurant...
When I returned, I parked at the far end of the field in the shade thinking
I would wait until sunset...about 5:15P, I noticed some bird activity at the
other end, too large for the sparrows...
I saw at least 4 STFC at one time...they were foraging in the mowed field,
then on the rail fence, and then in the sandy road in front of me...
I walked down the road and hastily took a few pictures before a man and his
two sons came down the path from the opposite direction and flushed the
birds...
These pictures with the birds on the sand are not so good...I think I could
have gotten close enough to eventually take pictures of them on the rails if
they had not been flushed...
It was 93 degrees and no shade so I only waited until around 6P for them
return...
Images at: http://thebusinessbirder.com/stfc.pdf
John Ennis
Leland, NC
910-371-9729
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Subject: Lake Wheeler shorebirds
From: "Steven Shultz" <SSHULTZ(AT)nc.rr.com>
Date: 20 Aug 2006 11:47am
For a shorebird junkie this summer's near-normal rainfall has not brought
much joy as most of the lakes are full of fresh, clear water. The only
local (I'm in Wake County NC) spot I know of that has been at least mildly
interesting has been Lake Wheeler south of Raleigh. A pair of bars at the
lake's northwest end has been attracting some migrant shorebirds for the
last few weeks. Today I spotted the following:
35+ Least Sandpiper
2 Semipalmated Sandpiper
5-7 Pectoral Sandpiper
1 Semipalmated Plover
2 Greater Yellowlegs
dozens of Killdeer including the amusing "white killdeer", which has been
around for at least a couple of months. I sent two pics of him (or her) to
the CBC website. If they are good enough, you might see them later at
www.carolinabirdclub.org
Over the past few days we've also had Lesser Yellowlegs, Stilt Sandpiper and
Spotted Sandpiper. Herons and friends have been represented by Little Blue,
Yellow-crowned Night (adult and 2 little ones), Green, Great, and Great
Blue. A couple of warblers on the move as well, saw several Yellow Warblers
in the willows along Swift Creek.
The bars can be scoped from the little peninsula west of the Penny Rd bridge
over the lake, but I checked most of these birds out from a kayak. You can
put in at Lake Wheeler County Park off Lake Wheeler road.
I saw Falls Lake is down 1.0 feet as of yesterday, and I think I recall
seeing shorebirds there at 2.0 feet below full. Anyone know when the flats
start appearing??
Best,
Steve Shultz
Apex, NC
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Subject: Henderson County Vicinity
From: "Wayne K. Forsythe" <wforsythe(AT)mchsi.com>
Date: 20 Aug 2006 1:23pm
Folks,
Ron Selvey and I birded around the Hendersonville area today with
the following results:
Hooper Lane- 15-20 Killdeer (very little water)
Lake Julian in Buncombe Cty.-Nothing unusual
Jackson Park: 2 N. Parula, 4 American Redstarts, 1 pair
Hooded Warblers.
2 Chestnut-sided, 1 Blackburnian, 1 Red-eyed Vireo! All
these birds were in one flock.
Best regards,
Wayne
Wayne K. Forsythe
Hendersonville, N. C.
828-697-6628
wforsythe AT mchsi dot com
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Subject: Santee NWR
From: "Steven Tracey" <steventracey(AT)sprintmail.com>
Date: 20 Aug 2006 4:17pm
Yesterday morning, I drove down from Columbia to the Orangeburg Sod Farms,
but with
the morning fog very thick, I decided to hop over to Santee NWR in hopes of
better weather. I birded the Cuddo unit had a decent warbler morning going,
until my car battery died and I had to call for a jump.
Warbler list:
Prothonotary
Prairie
Pine
N Parula
Waterthrush (looked like Louisiana)
A Redstart
Worm-eating
Blue-winged
This morning I hit Saluda Shoals Park, and found N Parula, Prairie, A
Redstart and one Chestnut-sided Warbler. I then went back down to the sod
farms. All of the shorebirds were at the westbound I-26 rest area. Lots of
Pectoral Sandpipers (too many to count) and good numbers of least sandpipers
to go along with the killdeer and one Upland Sandpiper.
Steve Tracey
Irmo, SC
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Subject: Congaree National Park on 20 August 2006
From: "Robin Carter" <rcarter(AT)sc.rr.com>
Date: 20 Aug 2006 8:25pm
Encouraged by Jason Giovannone's discovery of a wide variety of shorebirds
on a sandbar in the Congaree River, today I checked out Congaree National
Park's most accessible sandbar, which is along the River Trail. I found no
shorebirds; the only bird on the sandbar was a Mourning Dove.
I started from the after-hours' parking lot at 6:00 AM (in time to heard a
couple of Whip-poor-wills) and birded my way down the River Trail to the
sandbar and back again. I got back to my car at 3:00 PM, rather pooped out
from a 10 mile hike in hot weather.
There were many signs of autumn in the park. I found more paw paw fruit
today than I have even seen before in the park. The slightly sweet and
pungent odor of rotting paw paws was common along much of the River Trail. I
also found a lot of red fruit on the spicebush shrubs near the river.
Though I did not find any shorebirds I did have a pretty good variety of
warblers for mid August (nine species). The best bird was probably a
Swainson's Warbler (actually seen!). This species is fairly tough to find
after its breeding season ends and it stops singing.
There were a couple of backpackers camping on the sandbar last night. They
may have spooked any shorebirds. I suppose I should hike down to the sandbar
again soon, but first I have to recover from today's jaunt.
Here is my day list (from eBIrd):
OBSERVATION REPORT
Report Details
Location name: Congaree National Park
Observation date: 8/20/06
Duration: 9 hour(s) 0 minute(s)
# of people in birding party: 1
Are you reporting all the species you identified? Yes
Total # of species: 35
Observation type: Casual Observation
Start time: 6:00 AM
Distance covered: 10.0 mile(s)
Area covered: N/A
Weather had a negative effect on my ability to collect birding information:
Checklist diary notes:
entrance road; River Trail
Species Details
Species Name Number Reported
Mississippi Kite 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 3
Mourning Dove 2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 15
Barred Owl 3
Whip-poor-will 2
Chimney Swift 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 10
Downy Woodpecker 4
Hairy Woodpecker 3
Pileated Woodpecker 12
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2
Acadian Flycatcher 8
White-eyed Vireo 16
Yellow-throated Vireo 4
Red-eyed Vireo 2
American Crow 10
Carolina Chickadee 8
Tufted Titmouse 12
White-breasted Nuthatch 5
Brown-headed Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 35
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 8
Wood Thrush 2
Northern Parula 20
Pine Warbler 3
American Redstart 1
Prothonotary Warbler 8
Worm-eating Warbler 1
Swainson's Warbler 1
Louisiana Waterthrush 2
Kentucky Warbler 1
Hooded Warbler 12
Summer Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 50
Robin Carter
Columbia, SC USA
mailto:rcarter(AT)sc.rr.com
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Subject: Coastal birding this weekend 18-20 Aug 06 - White Pelican,
Cory's shearwater, Upland Sp
From: David Lenat <lenatbks(AT)mindspring.com>
Date: 20 Aug 2006 8:57pm
I went on Brian's pelagic trip on Saturday, with birding on the way
down (Friday) and birding on the way back (Sunday).
Pelagic birding was productive, but I will leave that list to Mr. Patteson.
Other Highlights:
American White Pelican - 1 seen driving down NC 12 nr. Bodie Pond. The
bird was probably over the ocean shore; it was well seen and
photographed overhead.
Cory's Shearwater. Of course many were seen on a summer pelagic trip,
but I also observed at least 7 from shore at Cape Point. The windward
side was full of terns and gulls, and the small flock of Shearwaters was
easily observed thru a spotting scope about 300 meters offshore.
Occasional birds came within 100 meters and could have been seen only
with binoculars.
Piping Plovers. Still present at Cape Point, but have left the nesting
grounds and can now be seen along the ponds (from the Jeep Trail). They
seem to like chsing the Semi-palmated Plovers.
Palm Warbler. One early migrant seen near Hatteras lighthouse.
Black Terns. Very common this weekend, with small flocks (4-10 birds
each at North and South ponds, Salt Pond, Cape Point and off-shore.
Upland Sandpipers. 22 individuals were seen at the American Turfgrass
Corporation on Friday, located between Plymouth and Columbia. At least
20 individuals were still there today.
Directions. This turf farm can be observed from the new NC 64, but you
can't exit there. Go back on NC 94 (old NC 64), past the Dept of
Transportation facility and look for the sign. Turn onto dirt road and
keep going until you go _under_ the new NC 64. To see Upland Sp, keep
going on dirt road (thru soybean fields), take 1st left on dirt track
and cross over into the turf area. The best viewing is from the back of
the fields, requiring two more right turns. The target area is a turf
field bounded on the back by a dirt field/irrigation ditch and a soybean
field on one side. Also seen here were 300+ Pectoral Sp, a few Least
and Semi-palmated Sp, and a black-bellied Plover.
-Cape Point is full of many kinds of terns, easily viewed inside the
protected area.
-Bodie Island Pond was a delight with many waders and shorebirds and _no
people_. Anywhere you could fish or swim was very crowded, but these
folks were not interested in birds!
-The Pettigrew area was loaded with uncountable thousands of tree swallows.
Dave Lenat, Raleigh
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Subject: Audubon moment in Evergreen
From: "Larry" <Larry(AT)lbarden.com>
Date: 20 Aug 2006 10:01pm
Saturday morning Louise and I were on our access trail to Evergreen Nature
Preserve along the creek behind Winterfield School (aka Winterfield Branch),
when I noticed movement on a log that straddled the creek. It was an
immature Red-shouldered Hawk eating something. The hawk was aware of our
presence as we had been talking and were only about 30 feet away, but it
didn't seem too worried. Louise and I were both able to focus our binocs
for at least 2 minutes, but we could not identify the food item. After the
bird left we braved the poison ivy for a closer look at the leftovers, which
on close inspection proved to be the head and thorax of a relatively large
crayfish. Not the biggest crayfish I've ever seen, but a lot bigger than
anything I would have expected in Winterfield Branch. The hawk had neatly
removed the tail and left the remainder on the log.
Later, in the forest edge near the south side of the large opening (aka
Winterfield Opening), Louise got two good looks at a Worm-eating Warbler.
Not bad for a muggy Saturday morning.
Cheers,
Larry and Louise Barden
Charlotte
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