Trail 53: Walnut Creek Trail - I-440 to New Hope Road

04/03/2015.  9:35 AM.

Start:  GPS N 35, 45.839, W 78, 35.007
End:   GPS N 35, 45.839, W 78, 35.007

This one remaining section of the Walnut Creek Trail was a little tricky to access. On my previous outing, I did not think there was a way to access the trail directly from New Hope Road, so I thought I would need to try to find another access point. It turns out that there is an accessway perhaps 1/16th of a mile to the west of the New Hope Road overpass that intersects the trail from the north. However, because I ended my previous outing on the east side of New Hope Road, I did not see this access point.

Instead, I tried to access this new section of the trail from the western side, beginning in the area near the Walnut Creek Amphitheatre. There is a softball park that provides easy access to a pedestrian tunnel that passes beneath I-440, but because I was out on a Friday morning, the softball park was closed to parking. That meant I had to park even further away from the new trail segment, on the other side of the road at Worthdale Park. The positive side of this was that I discovered a little extension of the Walnut Creek Trail that now connects Worthdale Park to the Softball Park. This was a part of the trail I hadn't walked before. The down side was that my one mile of remaining trail required about a mile of walking just to reach, resulting in a four mile round trip.

This outing is divided up into discontinous sections because part of the time I was retracing steps from previous outings. Therefore, I will report locations only for bird species seen in the new sections.

The first part of the trail was a connector between Worthdale Park and the Walnut Creek Softball Complex. It is perhaps a quarter mile long or less. I then passed through the part of the trail that skirts the softball complex to reach the next new section just past the I-440 overpass.  The section from there to New Hope Road is also a new segment, and is probably about a mile in length.


While passing through Worthdale Park, I saw White-Breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Chickadee, American Robin, and American Crow.

Species Sighted Along the Short Connector Segment:

The birds were not very active in this short connector segment.  I heard perhaps four or five species total but only identified two of them visually.

Red Bellied Woodpecker:  GPS N 35, 45.766, W 78, 35.158.

American Robin:  I saw just one of these from the same vantage where I saw the woodpecker.

There was a great deal more bird activity at the softball complex than along the new segment of trail. In only one or two spots, I saw White Throated Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, American Crow, Brown Thrasher, Blue Gray Gnatcatcher, Tufted Titmouse, and Carolina Chickadee.

New Species Sighted from I-440 to New Hope Road:

American Crow:  GPS N 35, 45.348, W 78, 34.585.

Blue Jay:  GPS N 35, 45.146, W 78, 34.384.

Northern Cardinal:  GPS N 35, 45.006, W 78, 34.281.

Black Vulture:  GPS N 35, 44.983, W 78, 34.256.  Finally something I have not seen in awhile! Two of them flew low overhead.



Pine Warbler:  GPS N 35, 44.975, W 78, 34.234. There may have been two of them, but I could only confirm one.

Yellow Rumped Warbler:  In the same area with the pine warbler(s).

White Throated Sparrow:  GPS N 35, 44.867, W 78, 33.961.

Great Blue Heron:  Same area as sparrows.  In flight.

New Species Sighted on Return Trip:

Common Grackle:  GPS N 35, 44.870, W 78, 33.969.

Hermit Thrush:  GPS N 35, 44.970, W 78, 34.193. I ended up seeing two of these.

Tufted Titmouse:  Same place as the Hermit Thrush.

Carolina Chickadee:  GPS N 35, 45.294, W 78, 34.443.

As I passed back through Worthdale Park on my way to the car, I saw a Dark Eyed Junco, which I had not seen anywhere else along the trail.

I only ended up seeing a total of 14 species along the new trail segments, and 16 species in total. Most were very common types. I also did not find this part of the trail to be very aesthetically pleasing. The section after New Hope Road that leads to the Neuse River Trail would be preferable for both birding and walking, in my opinion.

Trail 52: Walnut Creek Trail - Neuse River to New Hope Road

3/21/2015.  9:10 AM.

Start: GPS N 35, 44.934, W 78, 32.034
End:  GPS N 35, 44.934, W 78, 32.034

The Walnut Creek Trail was finally connected to the Neuse River Trail sometime in the last year. My last visit to the Walnut Creek Trail was on April 25, 2014 when I finished the west end of the trail at Lake Johnson Park. With the newly completed eastern section, it is now 15.6 miles in length and stretches across the southern part of Raleigh. Over the next two outings I expect to finish off these last four miles or so of the trail from the Neuse River to the Walnut Creek Amphitheatre.

It is not possible to park by the intersection of the Walnut Creek Trail and the Neuse River Trail. The closest access point is from an unmarked gravel path just east of Barwell Road on Barrington Drive. This appears to be an accessway for city vehicles, but there is room for one or two cars to park on a graveled area just out of the way of the path leading to the trail. The actual intersection of the two trails is about a quarter of a mile east of this access point.

The weather was rather cool and somewhat cloudy when I first started down the trail. I went east first, until I reached the intersection of the Walnut Creek and Neuse Trails, then headed west from there all the way to New Hope Road. However, I will report my sightings in order from east to west to make everything a bit more logical.

Birds Sighted From Neuse River to Mile 1 Marker:

American Crow:  GPS N 35, 45.041, W 78, 31.969. I only saw five of these the whole morning.

White Throated Sparrow:  GPS N 35, 44.994, W 78, 32.014. Counted a total of 20 on the day.

Hermit Thrush: In the same area with the sparrows. I saw two of them on the day at opposite ends of the trail.


Song Sparrow:  In same area with White Throated Sparrows and Hermit Thrush.

Tufted Titmouse:  Heard them a number of times but only spotted three.

Northern Cardinal: GPS N 35, 44.934, W 78, 32.034.  I counted nine of these in total.

Northern Mockingbird:  In the same area as the first Cardinal.

Great Blue Heron:  GPS N 35, 44.974, W 78, 32.084.

Carolina Chickadee:  GPS N 35, 44.992, W 78, 32.249.

American Robin:  GPS N 35, 45.035, W 78, 32.575.


Turkey Vulture:  GPS N 35, 45.051, W 78, 32.636.

Brown Creeper: GPS N 35, 45.104, W 78, 32.693.

New Species Sighted From Mile Marker 1 to New Hope Road:

This section had a nice stand of pine trees. I also heard, but did not see, a Barred Owl.

Red Shouldered Hawk:  GPS N 35, 45.116, W 78, 32.760.  There were two of these in the woods and they may have been constructing a nest.

Pine Warbler:  GPS N 35, 45.150, W 78, 32.939. I ended up seeing two.

Red Bellied Woodpecker:  GPS N 35, 45.088, W 78, 33.023.

Mourning Dove:  GPS N 35, 45.101, W 78, 33.069. A house here had a feeder that attracted several common species.

Dark Eyed Junco:  Was visiting the bird feeder.

House Finch:  Two females at the bird feeder.

Canada Goose:  In flight.

Downy Woodpecker:  Male.

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker:  GPS N 35, 45.133, W 78, 33.161.

Eastern Phoebe:  GPS N 35, 45.009, W 78, 33.347. Saw two pairs on the day.

I turned around when I came to New Hope Road, although there was no obvious access from the road to the trail.  Next outing, I will have to try to approach from the other end (Walnut Creek Amphitheatre) in order to complete the trail.

New Species sighted on the Return Trip:

Yellow Rumped Warbler:  GPS N 35, 44.983, W 78, 33.645.

Carolina Wren:  GPS N 35, 44.959, W 78, 33.558.

House Finch:  GPS N 45.011, W 78, 33.446.

Chipping Sparrow:  GPS N 35, 45.092, W 78, 33.061.

No new species were found for the Capital Area Greenway list, although I did see 26 species total, which is more than I normally see on one of these outings. The two most unusual sightings were the Hermit Thrushes, and the Brown Creeper, which I have only seen a handful of times along the Raleigh Greenways.  I was a bit surprised not to see more variety.  Much of the trail passes through somewhat swampy land, and I thought this might lead to some atypical species, but it did not. I will say, however, that the many raised walkways through this area are very nice, and they make for a very pleasant walk.