Outing #12 - Prairie Ridge Ecostation

06/15/2016

As I mentioned in my last post, I decided that for this outing, I would target some of the 100 most commonly reported species in Wake County and try to knock them off the list. The nine species I am targeting for the summer are Ruby Throated Hummingbird, Rock Pigeon, Pileated Woodpecker, House Wren, Wood Thrush, Eastern Wood Pewee, Purple Martin, Acadian Flycatcher, and Barred Owl. I did some research on eBird.org to find out which hotspots in the county are most likely to have reports of these species in June and found that three of them are fairly commonly reported at Prairie Ridge Ecostation - Ruby Throated Hummingbird, House Wren, Purple Martin and Barred Owl.  I also remembered from my original Trailbirder blog that Reedy Creek Road near the Ecostation tends to support a lot of Rock Pigeons.

I arrived at Prairie Ridge Ecostation at 8:30 AM to find that it doesn't actually open until 9 AM. The parking lot is open, and there were some trees lining the entryway and a grassy area out in front of the building, so I tried to spot some birds among those trees to kill half an hour. One of the employees saw me hanging around and finally ushered me inside around 8:50 AM. But this relatively late opening time is something to keep in mind when birding there in summer.

Generally speaking, there seemed to be a lot less bird activity than when I was last here in the winter. The tallgrass areas are a sparrow haven in winter, but in the summer time that area was much less active. I decided to pay a quick visit to the feeder station, where the nest boxes for the Purple Martins are located, then followed the forest trail in hopes of seeing a House Wren, or perhaps even a Barred Owl that was recently reported here. I have a feeling that the owls are going to be some of the tougher species to catch for this project because they get reported more often by sound than by sight.

The Purple Martins (#93 on the frequency list) were easy to pick up at the nesting station.  I counted a total of five of them at any one time, but there were probably several more than that present in the area.  The photo at left was taken through my spotting scope.

103) Purple Martin

The feeders didn't have any new species for me, and I was disappointed not to see any Ruby Throated Hummingbirds at the feeder.  I prefer not to have to rely on feeders if I can, but I've been surprised not to see any hummingbirds in Wake County yet this season. Hopefully my luck will change soon.  If not, I may just have to stake out a feeder somewhere until I can check this one off the list.

Most of the other birds I saw at Prairie Ridge were fairly common.  There seemed to be a lot of Red Winged Blackbirds about, and I did manage to see two Orchard Orioles, which I've only seen a couple of times before. Otherwise, it was a pretty typical day of birding.

On the way home, I drove up Reedy Creek Road toward its intersection with Edwards Mill Road and saw a cluster of Rock Pigeons (#51) perched on a wire near Edwards Mill Road. So with that, I ended up with two new species for the Wake County Project list on the day.

104) Rock Pigeon

With that, I have seven of the most common 100 species left to identify this summer, plus any unusual birds that might make an appearance. I'm thinking I might target the Pileated Woodpecker for next outing.