Trail 5: Neuse River Trail (Part C)

1/02/2012.  10:25 AM.

Start:  GPS N 35, 55.126, W 78, 33.602
End:   GPS N 35, 54.103, W 78, 32.436

Entrance to this section of the trail is at 10900 Bedfordtown Drive.  There is a small parking lot next to the paved access way that leads to the Neuse River Trail.  Not far down the trail from this entrance is another access point from Grassy Creek Place (GPS N 35, 55.050, W 78, 33.661), and very soon after that is the point where the Abbotts Creek Trail (Eastern Part) intersects the Neuse River Trail.  It's a fairly long walk from the Abbotts Creek intersection to the next exit point just before the 4.5 mile marker, where I turned around and began the return trek.

The sky was clear and it was around 45 degrees Fahrenheit when I arrived (this picture was taken the previous week when it was cloudy but warmer).  The treeline off to the right had some decent bird activity.  I spent about 45 minutes there working on my rather poor skills at identifying sparrows.  This part, as well as a section just beyond the Abbotts Creek Trail intersection, seemed quite good for sparrows.

I had a couple of new tools at my disposal thanks to the iPod Touch my wife gave me for Christmas.  My favorite so far is an App called iBird Explorer Pro, which I got from iTunes for $15.  It has a library of 924 North American birds and a fantastic search engine that allowed me to narrow down the options to only North Carolina birds, and then further by all kinds of characteristics such as family, primary or secondary color, head or breast pattern, and many more.  I used it to find both common and uncommon sparrows known to have been seen in North Carolina (there are 21 of them), entered one or two additional characteristics to narrow the field further, found a likely candidate, then checked out the image as well as a few photographs to verify.  If it doesn't look quite right, you can use the "similar" button to see any other birds (whether sparrows or otherwise) with similar characteristics.  Made it much easier to narrow down the possibilities and to feel confident about the result.

I also used the $30 Sibley e-Guide App for its excellent images.  It has a search function too, though with fewer options.  The Sibley App has a couple of nice features, though, like the ability to sort birds into size categories such as "sparrow-size" or "robin-size" rather than by length in inches, as you must do with the iBird App.  Another great App is called BirdsEye.  It was $20 and uses the e-bird database to report which birds have been sighted recently in the local area.  I used this before I left home to find out which sparrows and warblers have been recently sighted around Raleigh, whether they were relatively common or rarely seen, and whether they were recently seen in the quadrant of Raleigh that includes the Neuse River Trail.  If I had an iPhone instead of an iPod, I could look all of this up while in the field.  But even without the ability to get online in the field, the App was very useful.  With these Apps, I only pulled my books out a couple of times.

Birds Sighted Along Access Path:  GPS coordinates are not repeated if species are sighted within a couple of hundred feet of each other.

Chipping Sparrow:  GPS N 35, 55.126, W 78, 33.602.  I thought I had identified a group of these last time, then got nervous because they are not supposed to be winter residents here according to a map on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site.  However, the BirdsEye App has them identified in several places around Raleigh over the past two weeks, and a few sightings in this area of the city.  I had a long time to watch them and make certain, so now I'm ready to add them to the Greenway list.

Downy Woodpecker:  Saw two or three of these in total.  However, there were many fewer woodpeckers along this section of the trail than were present along Part A and Part B of the trail.

Carolina Wren:  Saw two of these today.

Around the Intersection of the Neuse River Trail with Grassy Creek Place and Abbotts Creek Trail:

Carolina Chickadee:  GPS N 35, 55.050, W 78, 33.661

Tufted Titmouse:  Only saw one of these today.  Saw many more on previous days.

Brown Creeper:  Another new one for the Greenway list.

Just Past the Abbotts Creek Trail Intersection:

White Throated Sparrow:  GPS N 35, 54.858, W 78, 33.621

Song Sparrow:  Got a good look at the spot on the breast.  Met another pair of birders at this point who told me they had seen a Great Crested Flycatcher down the trail.  This was a bird I had not seen before.  More on that later.

Along the Rest of the Trail:  Things got pretty quiet by the time I left the Abbotts Creek intersection (around noon).

Dark Eyed Junco:  N 35, 54.535, W 78, 33.399

Turkey Vulture (in flight):  N 35, 54.451, W 78, 33.010

Red Headed Woodpecker:  N 35, 54.318, W 78, 32.741.  I only saw one of these today after seeing so many on my three previous outings.

New Sightings on the Return Trip:

American Crow:  N 35, 54.409, W 78, 32.935

Eastern Bluebird:  N 35, 54.784, W 78, 33.613

Great Crested Flycatcher?:  N 35, 55.207, W 78, 33.589.  I was all the way back at my car ready to head home when I saw this one at about 1:30 PM.  I had taken off my jacket to put it in the car when I saw a bird with quite a bit of yellow on its body come flying from the trees to land on a short post maybe 30 feet away.  It was a little smaller than a robin, with a thinner body.  I got two good looks at the front of its body while it was on the post, with a quick check of the the iBird App in between. Unfortunately, the tail was hidden by the post while it was stationary.  It had yellow on the lower body and grey on the upper chest.  The top of the head had that pointed look, something like I remember seeing on the Black Phoebe in Arizona.  When it flew out from one post and back to another, it's flight had the acrobatic flycatcher look to it.  I didn't get a chance to confirm rufous color on the tail, but both the iBird App and the Sibley App suggest that this is the only likely species in this size range with these markings.  I left for home feeling confident about my identification.

The problem is that this bird is also not supposed to be here in December.  I checked e-bird for sightings in Dec-Feb for all dates and didn't find any for North Carolina.  There was a sighting in Monmouth New Jersey, much further north, in December 2007, and in Maryland in mid-November this year.  Nothing in North Carolina.  On the other hand, it looks like there are no e-bird reports along most of the Neuse River Trail for 2011, so those who do bird this trail are apparently not reporting to e-bird.

So do I count it or not?  Was it really just another bird that I am less familiar with, or has the warm fall kept these flycatchers around longer than normal?  The other pair of birders mentioned above saw one of these as well, and they seemed much more experienced than I am, based on our conversation.  I'll keep an eye on e-bird to see if anyone else reports it.  Given that it seems to be a fairly common bird here during the summer, chances are that I will pick it up later in the year anyway.

That brings the total to 13 species for this particular outing, if I exclude the Great Crested Flycatcher, and 31 for the Greenway list so far.  My lifelist has also grown by five birds.  Next time I hope to finish off the Neuse River Trail.

Trail 2: Abbotts Creek Trail (Eastern Part)

12/10/2011.  10:24 AM.

Start:  GPS N 35, 54.938, W 78, 34.406
End:   GPS N 35, 54.962, W 78, 33.624

There is an easy parking entrance at the 2400 Block of Dunn Road. GPS N 35, 54.915, W 78, 34.219. Follow a short unpaved trail from the end of the roadway, then turn left onto the asphalt path.  The Falls River Avenue entrance is a few hundred feet to the right down the same path.  I saw quite a few birds on the short stretch to Falls River Ave., so it might be worth a look.  However, there is no good place to park near the Falls River Avenue entrance.  

It was sunny and probably about 45 degrees Fahrenheit when I started.  This trail was much more wooded and had many more birds overall than the western part of Abbotts Creek Trail.  Much of this area is swampy, with wooden walkways raised above the wet ground in several locations.  It was a great place to see woodpeckers.  There were several active places for birds, including right near the beginning of the trail at the Falls River Ave. entrance.  There were two particularly good places to see woodpeckers.  One was a large swampy area with a few cattails that had a lot of red-headed woodpecker activity, and another was in the woods near a large pond that has a couple of benches set up, and a sign talking about Great Blue herons.  I saw three species of woodpecker on this trail, including the red-headed, red-bellied, and downy.

Birds Near Fall Creek Avenue Entrance (N 35, 54.938, W 78, 34.406). Species are listed in order of sighting.  GPS coordinates are not repeated if species are sighted within a couple of hundred feet of each other.

Tufted Titmouse:  These were very common along this entire trail.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker:  I saw this one at least twice, near the beginning and end of the trail in the non-swampy areas.  

Carolina Wren

White-Breasted Nuthatch:  I saw this toward the end of the trail again as well.

Yellow-Rumped Warbler (N 35, 54.814, W 78, 34.162)

At Large Swamp Area:  N 35, 54.775, W 78, 33.971

Northern Cardinal

Red-Headed Woodpecker:  This woodpecker is listed as "near threatened" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.  This was only the second time I had seen them in the wild.  They are very striking whether climbing on a tree or in flight.  The red color of the head is much richer and less orange than many other woodpeckers with reddish heads (such as the red-bellied woodpecker seen earlier).  I saw at least three different individuals and at several different locations along the trail.  A good place to pick up this bird if you don't have it.

Carolina Chickadee

Probable Song Sparrow:  It was down low to the ground but I couldn't confirm the central dark spot on the chest.  However, the Tekiela guide lists only four common sparrows in the Carolinas, and it definitely was not the other three.  Might have been one of the less common ones, though.

Downy Woodpecker

At Swampside Benches Area (N 35, 54.789, W 78, 33.763):  This area is actually a shallow pond thick with rushes.  The sign says that Great Blue Herons nest in the nearby trees, and indeed, I could see a large nest in a tree across the pond.

Mourning Dove

Black Vulture (in flight and perched):  The vulture was visible from the very end of the Abbotts Creek Trail where it meets the Neuse River Trail.  It flew in from up the trail, then perched on a large power stanchion.


Back at Falls River Avenue Entrance (N 35, 54.938, W 78, 34.406)

American Crow

Red-Tailed Hawk:  I got a good look at this one as it flew almost directly overhead twice.

Dark Eyed Junco

I finished around 12:30 PM.  This time I identified 14 species (not counting the song sparrow) and saw six species that I did not see the previous week on the western part of Abbotts Creek trail.  That is a total of 21 confirmed species seen so far.    In total, I saw four different species of woodpeckers between the two parts of the Abbotts Creek Trail (Pileated, Red-Headed, Red-Bellied, and Downy).

Trail 1: Abbotts Creek Trail (Western Part)

12/03/2011.  9:45 AM. 

Start:  GPS N 35, 54.822, W 78, 35.262

End:   GPS N 35, 54.893, W 78, 34.533

Entrance is at the 1200 Block of Walkertown Drive.  The western part of the trail ends around 2002 Falls River Avenue.  It is bisected by Falls River Avenue at the 1300 block, cutting it into a short section north of the street, and a longer section south of it.

It was sunny and somewhere in the 50s Fahrenheit when I arrived.  The short section of Abbott's Creek trail before it crosses Falls River Ave. is behind a residential area, with only a thin screen of woods.  The only active place for birds was right at the very beginning of the trail where the woods begin.  Other than a Northern Mockingbird, I couldn’t identify the other small birds at this entrance.  I was out of practice, and they were cryptic, disappearing quickly.  Toward the end of this first part of the trail, I saw an American Robin.

The second and longer part of the trail, after crossing Falls River Ave., was much better for birding.  The trail begins at  GPS N 35, 54.746, W 78, 35.152, and skirts Wake Landfill Park, passing Entrances 1 and 4.  There is a nice restroom inside Entrance 4 (GPS N 35, 54.655, W 78, 34.580) which was greatly appreciated!  I saw a number of birds, particularly after about 10:30 AM on this part of Abbott’s Creek trail, and most particularly on the return route.  The creek is very small here, maybe two or three feet wide and only follows part of the trail.  The trail does continue after the endpoint listed above, but you must walk along Falls River Ave. for maybe a quarter of a mile to reach the continuation.  The longer, eastern part of the Abbott's Creek trail begins at  GPS N 35, 54.969, W 78, 34.469.  The street address is 2120 Falls River Avenue.  I will explore this part of the trail next week.

There are a couple of side entrances that lead into this trail from surrounding neighborhoods as well.  One is at 10016 Smith Basin Lane.  The other, toward the end of this part of the trail, is along the 1500 block of Farmington Grove Drive.  You can park in a cul de sac on Farmington Grove Drive near the trail entrance.

Birds Sighted (First Part of Trail):  Species are listed in order of sighting.  GPS coordinates are not repeated if species are sighted within a couple of hundred feet of each other.

Northern Mockingbird (9:49 AM):   GPS N 35, 54.738, W 78, 35.318

American Robin:  GPS N 35, 54.736, W 78, 35.210

Birds Sighted (Second Part of Trail):

Turkey Vulture (in flight):  GPS N 35, 54.969, W 78, 34.469

Carolina Chickadee (10:20 AM):  GPS N 35, 54.654, W 78, 34.736

Dark Eyed Junco

Brown Thrasher:  GPS N 35, 54.773, W 78, 34.535

Northern Cardinal:  GPS N 35, 54.869, W 78, 34.534

Carolina Wren

White-Throated Sparrow

Pileated Woodpecker (Male):  GPS N 35, 54.661, W 78, 34.650.  This was the most exciting sighting of the day for me.  I have seen pileated woodpeckers in other parts of North Carolina and in Virginia, but never in Raleigh.  I watched it for about 10 minutes.  It was on the ground about 30 feet away working on a rotted log.  It would peck several times, breaking off pieces of rotted wood, then would cock its head and listen for the sound of insects moving.  It did some pretty good damage to a large branch in a short period of time.  Impressive!

Eastern Bluebird (11:32 AM):  GPS N 35, 54.662, W 78, 34.786

Downy Woodpecker:  GPS N 35, 54.670, W 78, 35.006

American Crow:  GPS N 35, 54.629, W 78, 35.026.  Inside entrance 1 to Wake Landfill Park.

Tufted Titmouse:  GPS N 35, 54.754, W 78, 35.148.  These were very common.

Hermit Thrush:  Bobbing of the tail helped with identification of this one.  This is a new species for the lifelist.

I returned to my car sometime around noon.  I ended up with 15 species in total and one new species for the life list.