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.