Outing #6 - Audubon Walk at Lake Crabtree County Park

03/04/2016

As I noted in my last entry, this weekend I have signed up for a Wake Audubon outing at Lake Crabtree County Park. It looks like I picked a good weekend for it as there have only been four notable sightings this past week according to the BirdsEye App, and one of the four is at Lake Crabtree Park (Lesser Black Backed Gull, #182 on the frequency list). This will be my third visit there hoping to see this bird, but maybe with extra pairs of eyes we will be successful. The other three sightings are Chimney Swift (#45), Indigo Bunting (#57), and Peregrine Falcon (#186), all at different locations. The Chimney Swift and Indigo Bunting are probably only "notable" because they are here out of season. They should both be easy enough to pick up from April through the summer. I've tried five times to see the Peregrine Falcon on Mid Pines Road and at Lake Raleigh, but haven't gotten a positive identification, so I'm ready to try something else.

03/05/2016

There were about 20 people at the outing today, and we managed to see quite a number of birds. We didn't have any luck identifying the elusive Lesser Black Backed Gull, but we did manage to see two species that I had hoped to see on previous visits. Bonaparte's Gull (#103 on the frequency list) is a new bird for my lifelist as well, and Osprey (#79) is a new bird for Wake County. Most of my previous birding has been in forest edge habitats near rivers and streams, which might explain why I've never seen these species here before. I didn't manage to get any photos of these birds, so I included a picture that gives an idea of the habitat instead. Even though Bonaparte's Gull is number 103 on the frequency list, it is reported on about 1 in 36 checklists, so is apparently not that difficult to see.

The other bird we saw today that was not yet on the list is Hairy Woodpecker (#64). In past years, I sometimes even get Hairy Woodpeckers at my backyard feeders, but I haven't seen them so far this year. That leaves only two woodpeckers left to find: the Red Headed Woodpecker (#62) and the Pileated Woodpecker (#68). I hope to see both of them sometime this spring.

65)  Bonaparte's Gull
66)  Osprey
67)  Hairy Woodpecker

I also ventured out three times this week on very short trips to Mid Pines Road and Lake Raleigh in hopes of seeing the Peregrine Falcon that seems to be reported there at least once a week. These were all short stops of about 30 minutes either before or after work. On my second trip, I may have seen it in flight, but didn't see enough detail to be certain of the identification. The most distinctive thing was the shape that the wings made while in flight (angled backward and coming to fairly sharp points). I also got a glimpse of the back color, which was a darkish blue-gray. But without a look at its face, I didn't want to call it.

Those trips were not a complete waste however. I got several decent photos of two Red Tailed Hawks through my spotting scope (see left), and also managed to see a Palm Warbler (#88 on the frequency list) at Mid Pines Road, and two Northern Shovelers (#100) at Lake Raleigh. During the Audubon Walk today, I learned that the group who saw the Peregrine Falcon at Mid Pines Road last weekend saw it among the pecan(?) trees near the building with the red roof. That is also apparently the area where the Palm Warblers hang out. Armed with that information, I might try one more time this week to see if I can spot it.

68) Palm Warbler
69) Northern Shoveler

I'm heading out of town from the middle of this week and will be gone through the weekend, so I probably won't be reporting next week. Soon, I may have to switch strategies to make sure I'm picking up the more common winter birds while they are still in the area. The BirdsEye App has a feature that allows you to search for species that have been sighted nearby in the past few weeks. If I set the filter to a distance of 10 miles from my house with reported sightings from the past four weeks, it tells me that 103 species have been seen. Some of those will be gone soon, such as American Wigeon (#150), Canvasback (#146), Redhead (#144), American Black Duck (#141), Greater Scaup (#131), Red Breasted Merganser (#126), Horned Grebe (#116), and Ring Necked Duck (#81). If I want a shot at these this year, my best bet is to try to see them before the end of March, and certainly by the end of April.