I'm into my seventh month of the Wake County birding project during which I'm hoping to see at least 180 species in Wake County over a three year period. This summer, I've been working to knock as many of the Top 100 most frequent birds from my list as possible. Among those birds that are normally encountered in the summer, I had just three left as I considered my last outing in July - House Wren, Eastern Wood Pewee, and Barred Owl. I'd heard Barred Owls at least twice this year, and a House Wren at least once, but hadn't gotten a visual identification, which is one of the requirements of my project.
A birding friend read my previous blog post and suggested that the best place to see the Eastern Wood Pewee (#91 on the frequency list) is Schenck Forest. That's also the only place I've ever seen one before, so it seemed like advice I should follow. Schenck Forest is also a place where the Yellow Billed Cuckoo (#106) has been reported recently, and a Great Horned Owl (#130) was identified there earlier in the summer.
109) House Wren
Along with two birding friends from Wake Audubon Society, I arrived at Schenck Forest a bit after 7 AM and started birding along the main gravel path just off of Reedy Creek Road. There was a lot of bird activity - mostly very common species - but then we got a glimpse of a raptor over the open field and were pleasantly surprised to see that it was a Northern Harrier (#142). We all three got a decent look at it, and agreed it was a Harrier with its distinctive white rump patch. Using the Species Maps tool on eBird.org, I have since checked for other sightings and found that Northern Harriers had been spotted in Raleigh twice during the month of May. One of these reports was made on the far side of the small lake that is located just outside of Schenck Forest. Perhaps this Northern Harrier just decided to stay in the area for the summer rather than migrating north.
110) Northern Harrier
After spotting the Harrier, we headed for Reedy Creek Road and decided to walk along the Reedy Creek Trail that follows the road and leads past a lake just across the road from Schenck Forest. The day was predicted to be very hot, so we wanted to get the roadway part of the walk out of the way while it was still somewhat cool in the early part of the morning. We didn't see anything new for the list along the Reedy Creek Trail, but we did see a couple of nice birds nonetheless - birds such as Indigo Bunting, Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, and an Eastern Kingbird.
After checking the lake for new species, we headed back into the forest at a little entrance that follows Richland Creek. The path was very muddy from some recent torrential rain, and we didn't see much there, perhaps because we were too busy watching our feet to make sure we didn't fall in the mud! It wasn't until we angled away from Richland Creek back up into the woods that we began to hear a number of calls. The one that got our attention the most was the call of a Yellow Billed Cuckoo. We spent a pretty good amount of time trying to spot this one, but I was unsuccessful in the end.
A little further up the trail, we entered the part of the Schenck Forest where a whole grove of trees has been grafted at the trunk. We were still keeping an eye out for the Yellow Billed Cuckoo when we got a very quick glimpse of a raptor flying from one tree into another at the far end of the clearing. We only saw it for a couple of seconds, and it was flying away from us with only its back visible. None of us got our binoculars on it, and nobody recognized it merely by shape, but we thought there was a chance it might have been a Great Horned Owl. There wasn't enough evidence to count it, however, and after waiting to see if it would show itself again, we had to move on and leave it off of our list for the day.
On the last leg of our walk, we entered a section of trees and heard the call of an Eastern Wood Pewee. One of the things I love about birding with Wake Audubon folks is that so many of them have really good ears for bird calls. Once we knew the Pewee was near, we kept looking until we finally saw it. It flitted around quite a bit for awhile, then it seemed to lose its fear of us and ended up landing in a branch less than 20 feet away. I got a really good look at it, and added one more bird to the Wake County Project List.
111) Eastern Wood Pewee
The last of the common summer birds that I need to see is the Barred Owl. I know where to go, and should be able to pick it up if it's still around. I just have to find the time to get out there and get it added to the list. Maybe I'll try to record this one this upcoming weekend.
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