Outing #1 - Lake Crabtree County Park

1/29/2016

I start this project with a blank slate and a goal of 180 species sighted in Wake County over the next three years. In order to decide where to go for this first trip, I started by checking the BirdsEye App to see if there were any rare birds that had been sighted near me in recent days. The search parameters were set for a 10 mile radius from my home, and produced three species - a Black and White Warbler four days ago at a personal location in Raleigh, a Nashville Warbler 11 days ago at Lake Crabtree Nature Trail - Southport, and a Lesser Black Backed Gull two days ago at the same location. Unfortunately, the gull is listed as unconfirmed, and the Nashville Warbler appears to have moved on.

However, the nearby Lake Crabtree County Park is one of the most productive hotspots in Wake County. Over the past 10 years, 100 different species have been reported there in the month of January. This year, there have already been 70 species reported. Some of these species are not terribly common on eBird checklists. Examples are Wilson's Snipe (0.9% of January checklists), American Pipit (1.7%), Canvasback (2.4%), and American Black Duck (2.7%). I also noticed that I've never recorded a Bonaparte's Gull, which is possible to see there. There is also a small chance that a Lesser Black Backed Gull might be hanging out in the area, along with a Nashville Warbler, if it didn't move too far from its previous location across the lake. My goal for tomorrow's outing is to find as many of these six species as possible, while recording anything else I see as part of my Wake County list.

1/30/2016.  9:40 AM.

My outing this morning did not begin well. When I arrived at Lake Crabtree County Park, I found that most of the trails were closed due to wet conditions. The snow and ice from a few days ago had left much of the ground soggy, and the trail that apparently follows the shoreline was closed. It is still possible to follow the shoreline in the other direction, but these pathways are mostly paved and there seemed to be limited activity near the shore in that direction. Still, I checked it out anyway, hoping to find at least one of the target species.

I began birding at the first parking lot after turning from Aviation Parkway. The area in front of this lot is open space with a fringe of tall grass and a few small trees and then the lake. When I arrived, there were 29 Canada Geese foraging in the grassy area. The ground was wet with standing water in several places, so I made my way around the margins of this open space, hoping to see some birds along the fringe. While birding in this area of the park, I saw the following species:

1) Canada Goose
2) Northern Flicker
3) Carolina Chickadee
4) Double Crested Cormorant
5) Great Blue Heron
6) Ring Billed Gull


In a small tree surrounded by tall grasses near the lake, I saw a sparrow that I first thought was a Field Sparrow.  It was alone, had a rufous crown and light rufous markings on the face. Then, I saw a distinctive black spot in the middle of the breast with no signs of streaking around it. Not a field sparrow because of the dark spot. The bird had flown down into the grasses and disappeared by the time I consulted my Peterson's Guide, and by then I couldn't remember for sure if there was no streaking at all, or just none near the dark spot. My sense was that American Tree Sparrow fit the look best. The other option would be a song sparrow with light streaking around the spot. The habitat is right for either one of them, but the fact that this bird appeared to be a loner would perhaps argue more for it being a song sparrow. I have never seen an American Tree Sparrow before, and a check of ebird suggests that one has never been seen in Raleigh. The nearest sighting is near Jordan Lake in 1995. So while it's possible I could have seen a rare American Tree Sparrow, the Song Sparrow seems more likely. Without more evidence either way, I decided not to record either species for this outing.  But I feel a great temptation to go back, stake out the area, and see if I can't get a better look!

Along the waterfront to the southeast of the parking area near Old Beech Nature Trail, I saw a number of additional species. These were mostly common species, but as I'm starting fresh here, all of them count toward the Wake County list.

07)  Brown Headed Nuthatch
08)  Fox Sparrow
09)  Blue Jay
10)  Tufted Titmouse
11)  Mallards
12)  American Crow (confirmed by call)
13)  American Robin

Probably the best sighting of the day was three bald eagles in flight over the park. At least two of them were juveniles. I was chatting with another birder when we both noticed them overhead. This nearly matches my total for eagle sightings over the past four years!

14)  Bald Eagle
15)  Pied Billed Grebe
16)  Field Sparrow

When I returned to the parking area, I discovered that one of the hiking trails (the Old Beech Nature Trail) was actually open. I took a stroll to see if it would take me close to the water in that area where the lakeside trail was closed. It didn't, but I did see a Winter Wren for my 17th identified species of the day.

17)  Winter Wren

I left the park at 12:26 PM having not managed to see any of the six species I had targeted for the day. I suspect that my inability to walk the less-developed lakeside trail may have been a contributor, so I may try to go back again sometime this week and see if I can pick any of them up. I learned from doing some reading today that the Wilson's Snipe can be hard to see except when it's in flight, so that one may be more difficult than I hoped.

After Outing #1, I need 163 species to complete the project.