Trail 1: Abbotts Creek Trail (Western Part)

12/03/2011.  9:45 AM. 

Start:  GPS N 35, 54.822, W 78, 35.262

End:   GPS N 35, 54.893, W 78, 34.533

Entrance is at the 1200 Block of Walkertown Drive.  The western part of the trail ends around 2002 Falls River Avenue.  It is bisected by Falls River Avenue at the 1300 block, cutting it into a short section north of the street, and a longer section south of it.

It was sunny and somewhere in the 50s Fahrenheit when I arrived.  The short section of Abbott's Creek trail before it crosses Falls River Ave. is behind a residential area, with only a thin screen of woods.  The only active place for birds was right at the very beginning of the trail where the woods begin.  Other than a Northern Mockingbird, I couldn’t identify the other small birds at this entrance.  I was out of practice, and they were cryptic, disappearing quickly.  Toward the end of this first part of the trail, I saw an American Robin.

The second and longer part of the trail, after crossing Falls River Ave., was much better for birding.  The trail begins at  GPS N 35, 54.746, W 78, 35.152, and skirts Wake Landfill Park, passing Entrances 1 and 4.  There is a nice restroom inside Entrance 4 (GPS N 35, 54.655, W 78, 34.580) which was greatly appreciated!  I saw a number of birds, particularly after about 10:30 AM on this part of Abbott’s Creek trail, and most particularly on the return route.  The creek is very small here, maybe two or three feet wide and only follows part of the trail.  The trail does continue after the endpoint listed above, but you must walk along Falls River Ave. for maybe a quarter of a mile to reach the continuation.  The longer, eastern part of the Abbott's Creek trail begins at  GPS N 35, 54.969, W 78, 34.469.  The street address is 2120 Falls River Avenue.  I will explore this part of the trail next week.

There are a couple of side entrances that lead into this trail from surrounding neighborhoods as well.  One is at 10016 Smith Basin Lane.  The other, toward the end of this part of the trail, is along the 1500 block of Farmington Grove Drive.  You can park in a cul de sac on Farmington Grove Drive near the trail entrance.

Birds Sighted (First Part of Trail):  Species are listed in order of sighting.  GPS coordinates are not repeated if species are sighted within a couple of hundred feet of each other.

Northern Mockingbird (9:49 AM):   GPS N 35, 54.738, W 78, 35.318

American Robin:  GPS N 35, 54.736, W 78, 35.210

Birds Sighted (Second Part of Trail):

Turkey Vulture (in flight):  GPS N 35, 54.969, W 78, 34.469

Carolina Chickadee (10:20 AM):  GPS N 35, 54.654, W 78, 34.736

Dark Eyed Junco

Brown Thrasher:  GPS N 35, 54.773, W 78, 34.535

Northern Cardinal:  GPS N 35, 54.869, W 78, 34.534

Carolina Wren

White-Throated Sparrow

Pileated Woodpecker (Male):  GPS N 35, 54.661, W 78, 34.650.  This was the most exciting sighting of the day for me.  I have seen pileated woodpeckers in other parts of North Carolina and in Virginia, but never in Raleigh.  I watched it for about 10 minutes.  It was on the ground about 30 feet away working on a rotted log.  It would peck several times, breaking off pieces of rotted wood, then would cock its head and listen for the sound of insects moving.  It did some pretty good damage to a large branch in a short period of time.  Impressive!

Eastern Bluebird (11:32 AM):  GPS N 35, 54.662, W 78, 34.786

Downy Woodpecker:  GPS N 35, 54.670, W 78, 35.006

American Crow:  GPS N 35, 54.629, W 78, 35.026.  Inside entrance 1 to Wake Landfill Park.

Tufted Titmouse:  GPS N 35, 54.754, W 78, 35.148.  These were very common.

Hermit Thrush:  Bobbing of the tail helped with identification of this one.  This is a new species for the lifelist.

I returned to my car sometime around noon.  I ended up with 15 species in total and one new species for the life list.