Trail 47: Neuse River Trail - Andy Dr. to Riverview Road

10/25/2014.  9:15 AM.

Start:  GPS N 35, 44.529, W 78, 31.674
End:   GPS N 35, 45.599, W 78, 31.976

From this post forward, I will be finishing up sections of the Capital Area Greenway that have mostly been new additions since this project began in December 2011. A really good example of some newly built trails are the southern 20 miles or so of the Neuse River Trail. I made my first visit to this trail in December of 2011. At the time, it was only about 6 miles long from Falls Lake to the WRAL soccer field, with a small, unpaved section present just north of Anderson Point Park. Now, it appears that the entire trail is 27+ miles long, leading all the way to the Wake County line at its southern end, with only one section just south of the WRAL soccer field that is not yet complete.  This section is supposed to be completed in November 2014. I'm working my way through the new sections from south to north, so my hope is that it will be ready for me to bird by the time I get there.

Although the Neuse River Trail goes all the way to the county line, this project is supposed to be about birding the greenways in Raleigh, so I decided to skip the last seven miles of the Neuse River Trail and focus on only the part of the trail that is in or near Raleigh. Checking the city limits, it looks like the line runs about where the 20 mile marker is along the trail. An access point is present at the end of Andy Drive only a few hundred feet north of this mile marker. So that is where I made my start.

This portion of the Neuse River Trail can be divided into two easy sections, the part south of Poole Road, and the part between Poole Road and Riverview Road. I found that the part of the trail south of Poole Road was particularly rich in tree climbing birds (woodpeckers, nuthatches, creepers), which are some of my favorite species. The river was only visible from a few places along the trail, but I saw some nice species all the same.

Birds Sighted Between Andy Drive and Poole Road

There was one spot in particular, just a few hundred feet north of Andy Drive where there is a bit of an open area with a view across the river. This was an excellent place for birds. I saw three different species of woodpecker in this area along with some other species.

Red Bellied Woodpecker: First seen from parking spot as I was walking onto the Greenway.

Tufted Titmouse: GPS N 35, 44.595, W 78, 31.695.

Carolina Chickadee:  In the same place as the Titmouse.

Northern Cardinal:  GPS N 35, 44.641, W 78, 31.728. I ended up seeing five in total along the trail.

Yellow Rumped Warbler:  GPS N 35, 44.674, W 78, 31.744. This was the area where several tree-climbing species were seen together.

Downy Woodpecker: I only saw one of these on the day.

White Breasted Nuthatch:  This was also the only nuthatch I saw on the day.

Pileated Woodpecker:  These are among my favorite Raleigh birds. I don't see them often, maybe once every six months on average, but they seem to be more common on the east side of the city. I've seen them on or near the Neuse River Trail at least four times. This time I saw a pair of them.

Brown Creeper: I haven't seen a Brown Creeper since January of 2012 near Durant Park. It was nice to see one again, even though it flew away after less than 30 seconds.

Blue Jay:  GPS N 35, 44.711, W 78, 31.769. Saw a total of five.

The intersection with the Walnut Creek Trail is located at GPS N 35, 44.995, W 78, 31.933. The following species were identified north of this point.

American Robin: GPS N 35, 45.056, W 78, 31.953.

Gray Catbird:  Just saw one.

Ruby Crowned Kinglet:  My first of the season. I saw two of them.

Birds Sighted Between Poole Road and Riverview Road

Carolina Wren: GPS N 35, 45.365, W 78, 31.976.

I turned around at a point where the Neuse River Trail forms a tangent line with Riverview Road. This endpoint is at GPS N 35, 45.599, W 78, 32.410.

New Species Sighted on the Return Trip

Turkey Vulture:  GPS N 35, 45.588, W 78, 32.370.


Common Grackle:  GPS N 35, 45.583, W 78, 32.318. I only saw four but there were probably many more.

Black Vulture: A total of five.

American Crow:  Surprisingly, I only saw one of these.

Canada Geese:  A total of 16 out on the river.

Belted Kingfisher:  GPS N 35, 44.666, W 78, 31.719.  This was another nice sighting. I heard it call, and then saw it go flying along the river toward the south, in the same area where I saw all of the tree climbers at the beginning of the outing.

This turned out to be a fairly productive outing. Although I did not see any new species for the Capital Area Greenway list, I did manage to see some species that I haven't spotted in quite a long time, and I saw a couple of old favorites.  I managed to identify 20 species in total on this outing, which is slightly above average, I think. This seems to be a nice segment of the Neuse River Trail for birding, although the number of cyclists is pretty high. It might be nice to come on a weekday to avoid some of the riders.