Trail 11: Shelley Lake Trail (West Side)

02/11/2012.  10:40 AM.

Start:  GPS N 35, 52.037, W 78, 39.297
End:   GPS N 35, 51.641, W 78, 39.801

The entrance to this part of the Capital Area Greenway is around 6200 North Hills Drive, just south of Lynn Road. There is a parking lot for an apartment complex next to the trail entrance, but there is also plenty of space to park on the street.

The day was mostly cloudy and breezy, with temperatures in the mid-40s Fahrenheit. I got off to a later start than usual, and perhaps because of it, started seeing birds from the moment I stepped onto the main trail.

This part of the trail can be divided into three sections. First is the section from North Hills Drive to the intersection with the bridge leading to the eastern side of the Shelley Lake Trail. This section is fairly short, perhaps a quarter of a mile in distance, but was quite active. The next section runs from the bridge along the creek to the lake itself. This section ends at around the 1.75 mile marker. The last section runs along the western edge of Shelley Lake, where it crosses a  long bridge and then branches two ways at the 2 mile marker - one branch follows along the south edge of Shelley Lake, and another veers off to the west toward the Art Center. According to the map, there is a short section of unpaved trail off of the accessway that leads to the Art Center. This unpaved path ends at Rushingbrook Rd. I will check it out on my next outing.

Birds Sighted Between North Hills Drive and First Bridge: This part of the trail was active from the time I arrived.

White Throated Sparrow:  GPS N 35, 52.006, W 78, 39.288. These birds were numerous along many areas of the trail.

American Goldfinch: A single male, moving around for a time in the same area as the sparrows.

Eastern Towhee: A single male. Saw a female further down the trail.

White Breasted Nuthatch:  This bird was very busy right near the start of the trail. At one point, it moved to within about 10 feet of me.

Carolina Chickadee:  Saw only a few of these on the trail.

Tufted Titmouse:  Not as common as usual.

Northern Cardinal:  Saw a pair of these. Heard cardinals calling almost the entire length of the trail.

Birds Sighted Between the First Bridge and the 1.75 Mile Marker: This part of the trail begins at GPS N 35, 52.026, W 78, 39.392. It follows along the creek until the lake is reached. In many places, there is thick undergrowth sheltering many birds.

Mallard:  GPS N 35, 52.033, W 78, 39.427. Both a male and female together on the creek.

Northern Flicker (male):  This is the first time I've seen this bird along the Greenways, though it is a frequent visitor to my feeders at home.

American Crow:  GPS N 35, 51.958, W 78, 39.491.

Downy Woodpecker:  Only saw this one a couple of times today.

There is another entrance to the trail along this stretch. A sign at GPS N 35, 51.810, W 78, 39.589 says that the access trail comes from Lakeway Drive. Right near this access point, I saw three foxes. Two seemed to be chasing each other around the leaf litter, so I'm guessing this was a mother and two nearly grown kits.

The last stretch of the western part of the Shelley Lake Trail runs from the 1.75 mile marker to the 2 mile marker.  This photo (left) was taken from near the 2 mile marker looking back up the trail. The long wooden bridge is an excellent place from which to see water birds, including gulls, ducks, geese, cormorants, and herons.

Birds Sighted from the Large Wooden Bridge:  GPS N 35, 51.608, W 78, 39.753.

Great Blue Heron:  One adult and one immature.  On the way back up the trail, I saw two or three of these land in the trees overlooking the lake as well.

Canada Goose:  There were many of these out on the water.  These are new birds for the Greenway list.

Belted Kingfisher:  Only saw this one for a short time, as it appeared near the bridge making quite a bit of noise, then flew away to a perch that I couldn't seem to locate. Still, a nice sighting and another new one for the Greenway list.

Ring Billed Gull:  Counted 74 of these in total.  I may have been off by a few.  Another new bird for the Greenway list.

Double Crested Cormorant:  Standing like sentinels on the pilings from an old dock. There were six of them altogether. Yet another new species for the Greenway list.

New Species Seen on the Return Trip:

Brown Thrasher:  GPS N 35, 51.641, W 78, 39.711. Saw one of these in two different places on the return trip.

This outing added six new species to the Capital Area Greenway bird list for a total of 44 species.  This trail had some of the greatest habitat variety so far because of the combination of good woods habitat coupled with the lake habitat.  This would definitely be a trail to consider visiting on a frequent basis for birding.