Trail 15: Ironwood Trail (Middle Part)

03/17/2012.  9:55 AM.

Start:  GPS N 35, 50.832, W 78, 39.968
End:   GPS N 35, 50.552, W 78, 39.747

There are at least two ways to access this part of the Ironwood Trail.  The long path from near 5105 North Hills Drive was described in my last posting (Trail 14: Ironwood Trail North Part). I chose to enter the trail from the west side this time, using a long access path near 1812 Stannard Trail. There is a community building with a parking lot a short walk from the access point, which was convenient, though if I had to choose an entry point again, I would probably use the North Hills entrance because that whole path is wooded on both sides, and runs along the creek for most of the way.

The day was warm and sunny with temperatures already in the mid-60s Fahrenheit by the time I arrived. The access path from Stannard Trail was fairly long and passed between open lawn on one side and a stand of trees on the other for much of its distance. I saw four different species within the first couple of minutes on the access path. These were mostly common birds that are often seen at feeders.

Birds Sighted Along Stannard Trail Access Path:

American Robin:  GPS N 35, 50.832, W 78, 39.968.

Northern Cardinal:  This male was high up in a tree singing away.

House Finch:  GPS N 35, 50.849, W 78, 39.954. Male and female.

American Goldfinch:  Moving around with the house finches.

Birds Sighted Along Ironwood Trail (Middle Part):  This trail follows the river.  The birds were more vocal here than on any other outing this year, presumably because it is breeding season.

Blue Jay:  GPS N 35, 50.888, W 78, 39.693.

Yellow Rumped Warbler:  Very active toward beginning of trail.

Tufted Titmouse:  Fairly common as usual.

American Crow:  GPS N35, 50.759, W 78, 39.758.

Dark Eyed Junco:  Saw just one of these.

Hairy Woodpecker:  GPS N 35, 50.639, W 78, 39.798.  This is only my second confirmed sighting of this bird.

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker:  Saw this bird in two places along the trail.

Great Blue Heron:  An immature one was seen walking in the creek, and later a mature one flew overhead.

White Breasted Nuthatch:  GPS N 35, 50.602, W 78, 39.766.

White Throated Sparrow:  These have been surprisingly uncommon the last two or three outings compared to previous ones, and the numbers seen have been smaller.

Red Shouldered Hawk:  GPS N 35, 50.552, W 78, 39.747.  Perched high up in a tree right next to the end of this section of the trail.

Carolina Chickadee:  I heard these a few times, but it took until the end of the trail to actually see them.

Birds Sighted on Return Trip:

Red Bellied Woodpecker:  GPS N 35, 50.779, W 78, 39.727.  I heard these birds calling many times, but did not see one until the return trip.

Orchard Oriole or Baltimore Oriole?:  I saw a bird high in a tree that had a really dark orange chest and a black head with a black cape on its back. The distance made it hard to see more subtle features, but I knew right away this was a new bird for me. I've never seen an Oriole in the United States, though I have seen a Hooded Oriole and a Yellow Backed Oriole on a trip to Belize many years ago

The bird in question did a bit of singing before it flew off to another perch for a few seconds, and then left altogether. My first thought was Baltimore Oriole, but the color of the chest was darker orange than the picture in my guide, and I thought the beak was narrower at the base in the brief glimpse that I got. Once I found the Orchard Oriole, which seemed to fit, I listened to the song.  It had been a couple of minutes since I last heard the bird sing, and my ear is not great, but I thought the song was a pretty good match, and much more similar than the song of the Baltimore Oriole. Still, when I checked on ebird.org, I did not find any sightings of this bird prior to April in the Raleigh area in years gone by.  The weather is unusually warm this year, but I didn't get a good enough look at the bird while I had my field guide open to be sure of the sighting, so I will not count this on the Capital Area Greenway List.

Mallard:  GPS N 35, 50.850, W 78, 39.657.

Northern Mockingbird:  At the entrance to the access path leading from Stannard Trail as I was finishing the outing for the day.

I left the trail at 12:40 PM.  Excluding the possible Orchard Oriole or Baltimore Oriole, I saw 19 species of birds on this outing.  There were no new additions to the Greenway list, although I did see only my second Hairy Woodpecker, and what is I believe only the third Red Shouldered Hawk. It is possible that this might be the same hawk I saw the previous week on the northern part of this trail.