Outing #14 - Blue Jay Point County Park

07/09/2016

Just over six months into my Wake County birding project, I've managed to see 105 different bird species here in Wake County, and prior to the outing reported below, I had only six summer species left from the list of the Top 100 most reported birds county-wide.  The stubborn holdouts were: Ruby Throated Hummingbird, Pileated Woodpecker, House Wren, Eastern Wood Pewee, Acadian Flycatcher, and Barred Owl. I've actually heard three of these six species at different times this year, but haven't laid eyes on them yet. When I saw on Meetup that Wake Audubon was doing a bird walk at Blue Jay Point County Park, I decided to join in. They have hummingbird feeders that are reliable for the Ruby Throated, and the promo for the walk mentioned the possibility of seeing Yellow Billed Cuckoo there, which would be a lifer for me. Back in February, I heard two Barred Owls hooting at each other there too, so I thought maybe I'd get lucky and finally land an owl.

Blue Jay Point County Park is situated around one of the inlets of Falls Lake, just off of Six Forks Road. It has some nice forest trails, but also access to the lake with a chance of seeing shorebirds and Osprey. When we reached the lake around 10 AM, we saw two Osprey, a Red Headed Woodpecker (across the lake), and two or three Great Blue Herons. This might be an excellent place to come in the winter to see ducks of various sorts.

The outing turned out to be very productive. At the visitor's center, I saw two or three Ruby Throated Hummingbirds (#49 on the frequency list) and was finally able to scratch them off my list. I've been a little surprised that I haven't run across them sooner, but maybe they tend to be tethered to feeders at this time of year, and I haven't been anywhere that had feeders except for Prairie Ridge Ecostation.  On the walk through the woods, we heard the Acadian Flycatcher (#94) several times, but couldn't seem to spot it. Then, a short time before we headed down to the lake, we got a glimpse of one as it moved from one tree to another.  Finally!

106)  Ruby Throated Hummingbird

107)  Acadian Flycatcher

That spot with the Acadian Flycatcher turned out to be even better than we thought. While we were trying to see the flycatcher, as well as a Northern Parula that was teasing us (but ultimately never showed), we heard Pileated Woodpeckers (#68) calling in the distance.  They kept moving closer and closer, then seemed to go quiet.  As we shifted our focus to the Parula, we suddenly heard them again and I got a good glimpse of one landing on a tree trunk before, presumably, seeing the giant crowd of humans and deciding to make tracks elsewhere.

108)  Pileated Woodpecker

We also heard the Yellow Billed Cuckoo twice, but never could get close enough to it to get a good look. Good enough to report on eBird.org, but not good enough to count for this project. But all-in-all, it was a very good day, and I tallied three of the six birds I've been after in one morning! As a bonus, while we were down at the lake, we saw a giant green larva that turned out to be from a Luna Moth!  One of the largest moths in North America, they are apparently hard to see in the wild.

So I now have just three summer birds left to fill out the Top 100. I have heard a House Wren before at the north end of Lake Lynn, so that might be a place I should revisit. I got a report that the Barred Owl is still hanging out on the East Fork of Mine Creek Trail, so that might be an option for a future outing. I have only ever seen an Eastern Wood Pewee once, and that was in Schenk Forest. A birder friend of mine also suggested Schenk forest, so I should probably check that out again too before summer is over. Maybe I can actually pick them all up before summer's end.  After that, I'll have to chase rarities until winter comes and I can go after the three or four winter birds left on the Top 100 frequency list.