The southern entrance to the Little Rock Trail is on Peterson Street just across from the Walnut Creek Wetland Center. Access from this point is easy, as you can leave your car in the Wetland Center parking lot. The trail runs along Little Rock Creek and is lightly to moderately wooded as it passes through several urban neighborhoods on its way downtown. The northern endpoint of the trail is less clear. Signs suggest that the trail ends at the northern entrance to John Chavis Park on Lenoir Street. However, a tree-lined sidewalk called Chavis Way continues for three more short blocks north, ending at the old City Cemetery. According to a very nice free app I found called RGREENWAY, the northern end of the trail is actually at the old cemetery on E. Hargett Street. I started my outing at the City Cemetery, which is located at the intersection of E. Hargett and S. East Streets, then proceeded south to the Wetland Center before returning the length of the trail to retrieve my car.
It was clear but cold when I arrived at the City Cemetery. The temperature was around 35 degrees Fahrenheit and conditions were a little breezy at times. Normally, I might have avoided such a cold day, but I was anxious to try out my new pair of Zeiss Conquest HD 10x42 binoculars to see how much they would help with bird identification along the Capital Area Greenway. I was not disappointed. These are a substantial step up from the Nikon Action 10x40 binoculars I've been using the past few years, and the brightness and image clarity makes subtle field markings much easier to see.
The City Cemetery (see photo from the web, above) has some large trees scattered about the grounds. Although they were mostly bare at this time of year, I discovered quite a bit of bird activity on my arrival. I forgot to bring my GPS device on this outing, so will report species by section of the trail rather than specific location.
American Robin: Saw only two of these in the cemetery, but would later see seven in one place further south.
Dark Eyed Junco: A total of six of these were moving around the cemetery together.
Northern Flicker (Yellow Shafted): This one was clearly a male because it had the black moustache.
Blue Jay: I only saw one of these in the cemetery. I saw either this same bird or another one later in the southern part of the trail.
Eastern Bluebird: Saw two here, and would later see three together further south.
House Finch: Only one.
Red Bellied Woodpecker: This one was a male because it had a red-orange crown from forehead to back of neck.
The photo at left is of the Chavis Way path. To the left of the line of trees in the photo is a strip of open grassy space, bordered by houses or other buildings.
European Starling: There were seven of these in the grass near the path.
Probable Cooper's Hawk: This hawk was perched in a lone tree along Chavis Way. It had orange eyes, three dark bands on both the front and back of the tail, a narrow white tip to the tail, reddish barring down the chest and sides, and white below. The back was a fairly dull, rather uniform brown color. I think it was too large to be a Sharp Shinned Hawk. I looked away to check my bird book and it disappeared without me having the chance to see it in flight.
Northern Cardinal: A male and female.
Song Sparrow: Alone down near the creek edge. This bird had a characteristic dark spot in the middle of the breast that aided my identification.
White Throated Sparrow: I saw small groups of these in two or three places along the trail. There were at least seven birds in this grouping.
Carolina Wren: I saw these birds at three or four locations along the trail.
Eastern Phoebe: Saw just one of these in the area of the park just before the tunnel that leads to the rest of the trail.
American Crow: I saw a group of 15 of these fly over the park. I could distinguish them from Fish Crows by call.
Downy Woodpecker: I heard this bird pecking away at something, but it took a moment to find him because he was only about two feet off the ground. I expected him to be up higher. He was removing bark from a small sapling.
Gray Catbird: I found this bird by accident while watching a White Throated Sparrow. The Catbird was hidden in the shadows of some underbrush along the edge of the woods and was not moving much.
Yellow Rumped Warbler: Only saw one of these on this outing.
Turkey Vulture: Saw one of these flying high overhead. White color along the length of the underparts of the wings make identification easy.
Eastern Towhee: One male scratching in the underbrush.
Golden Crowned Kinglet: I got a really nice view of the golden crown stripe on this one.
Hermit Thrush: This is a bird that I do not see often on the Greenways. This time it came out into the open for a short time.
Carolina Chickadee: I'm surprised I did not see more of these. They are usually common along the Greenways.
White Breasted Nuthatch: I spotted this bird when I stepped up to the edge of the treeline to take a photo of some red berries there (see photo below). The nuthatch was in the tree right above me and vocalized as I was taking the photo.
There was one species that I was unable to identify. Far in the distance, I saw one or two warbler-like birds that were yellow-green in color. They were not in pine trees, but I think they were probably Pine Warblers.
Although I managed to identify 26 species along this trail on a cold winter day, I would not rate this trail as among my favorites for birding. I tend to prefer trails that are more wooded and where it is less obvious that you are walking through neighborhoods. That said, for what is probably the most urban trail that I have walked so far, this one had a surprising abundance of bird species. Most of them were common birds that I have seen many times along the Greenways, but a few were uncommon, such as the probable Cooper's Hawk, the Song Sparrow, the Golden Crowned Kinglet, and the Hermit Thrush.
Finally, if you are interested in exploring the Raleigh Greenways, I recommend giving the RGREENWAY app a try. You choose the name of a greenway from a list, and the app will provide a map showing the greenway path, along with suggestions for where to park. The app provides regular or satellite views and is free on iTunes. If you use it on a phone, you can check in when you enter a greenway, keep track of the distance traveled and elapsed time, get weather updates, and report any issues you see along the greenway to ClickFix, which is apparently monitored by the City of Raleigh.
