Forsyth Audubon Winter Trip 2016: Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center & Huntington Beach State Park

By Cynthia Donaldson

This may have been the rainiest Forsyth Audubon trip I have ever attended. The rain started as we traveled south on I-95 on Friday, January 15, heading toward Santee National Wildlife Refuge. By the time we all arrived, it was raining in earnest. The inside of the beautiful visitor center was a great place to enjoy our picnic lunches. Many were enjoying the covered deck and scoping the Bonaparte’s Gulls, Forster’s Terns, and Double-crested Cormorants that were flying around Lake Marion. Loons and grebes were floating about, not seeming to be bothered by the steady rain. By 1 o’clock, the rain had stopped and, according to the radar, the front had passed. We hiked the Wright’s Bluff Nature Trail though a quiet pine forest to the edge of the impoundments where the birds find refuge in the winter.

From the observation tower, we enjoyed Wild Turkeys, Sandhill Cranes, Eastern Meadowlarks, Harrier and Cooper fly-bys, as well as Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped, and Pine Warblers chattering behind us in the forest. Another quick rain shower divided the group: most headed back to their cars. The rest stayed for another hour watching the parade of ducks and passerines – just glad to be outside and not at the “office.” The rain continued off and on until evening.

Tony’s Famous Pizza chef served up some yummy pizza to our group; then we headed to the Hampton Inn at the Georgetown Marina to try to get a good night’s sleep before our greatly anticipated day at Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center.

This group is prompt. We pulled out of the hotel parking lot at 8:25 am on the dot on Saturday morning, drove the 10 miles to the end of the road at the Estherville Minim Creek and met Jamie Dozier, Wildlife Biologist and Project Leader for the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center.  Jamie was our wonderful tour guide for the day. He ferried us across the creek in a pontoon boat, depositing us on the other side at a nature lover’s paradise!  Jamie’s assistant was unable to come, so Howard volunteered to drive the other van. Those of us in his van survived to tell…

We were privileged to see, although in a somewhat dormant stage, a newly discovered species of Hedge-nettle named Stachys caroliniana. Here is a link about the plant: New Species of Hedge-Nettle Discovered in South Carolina.

Our lovely stroll through a Live Oak grove was memorable. These massive trees housing moss and ferns have withstood many storms over their one hundred years.

From here we came out into open at the impoundments where we enjoyed seeing 99 American Avocets!

We always kept an eye looking up, because the clear, blue sky was full of surprises: Wood Stork, Black and Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagles, and a flock of White Pelicans delighted us by appearing over our heads.

The highlight of the morning was an adult Roseate Spoonbill flying overhead. It landed out of sight behind the wooded edge. The photo below is a juvenile that was in the same area. Several members of the group did the dance of joy for this long sought-after life bird. I heard someone say, “We can go home now.” In reality, none of us wanted this gorgeous day to end.

After several hours exploring these impoundments, Jamie shuttled us back to the vans. We picnicked in the warm sun under some Live Oaks. With sandwich in one hand and binos in the other, we watched Harriers skim the marsh and we listened to American coots “cooting.”

After lunch, we visited an impoundment where a huge alligator was napping with one eye on us.

Our next destination took us through a long leaf pine forest. All the eastern woodpeckers can be found at Tom Yawkey. We almost scored a home run for Mr. Yawkey: we saw them all but the Hairy! The Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center hosts many colonies of the protected Red-cockaded Woodpecker. The Red-cockaded Woodpecker was a life bird for many.

The rest of the day was spent on yet another impoundment. Here, several saw Mottled Ducks to add to their life lists. A bobcat ran across an open field. He stopped at the edge and looked back at us before disappearing into the edge. A Marsh Wren trilled at us from his cover in the reeds. A small torpedo whizzed over our heads, changed elevation to a few inches above the trail ahead – traveling straight down the center, then veered sharply to the right into the marsh. Like a flash. Merlin.

The afternoon sighting-of-the-day was a little ventriloquist; we could hear him but could not find him…at first. He was so much closer that he sounded. In this photo you can see our group mesmerized by the sight of this little bird. Another life bird for most of us: Sedge Wren.

The only thing that could tear us away was the fact that our dinner reservations were at 6 PM. We tried to end the day with another Red-cockaded Woodpecker, but happily settled for a Red-headed.

Since the tide was in, Jamie drove the swing bridge into place and we walked across the creek back to our cars.

 

Everything about this day had been perfect. Jamie was a very knowledgeable guide who patiently answered all our questions about this amazing refuge. The weather was warm and sunny. The people in our group were helpful and eager to teach. It was unanimous: we will return to the Tom Yawkey Nature Center! The sooner the better.

The dinner at Eddy Chacon’s was good. This restaurant was right beside the hotel so we walked over. Some of us stopped at the marsh behind the hotel on the way to see the Clapper Rails.

Sunday morning was cold, breezy, and rainy.  Here are a few words that I used to describe the group that went birding that morning: nutty, crazy, diehards, optimists. The rain let up around 1 pm when a few more joined the ranks at Huntington Beach State Park.  By then, it had improved to only cold and breezy. We hiked out the north beach trail to the jetty where we saw Least Sandpipers, Black Scoters, several hundred Dunlin, one Purple Sandpiper, and some very friendly Ruddy Turnstones.

Another interesting sight was a small flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls “pattering.” Their feet were barely touching the water as they hovered right above water along the jetty, plucking at unseen food from the tops of the waves. Ron told us that Storm Petrels feed in this same way. The name “petrel” is a diminutive form of “Peter,” a reference to Saint Peter; it was given to these birds because they sometimes appear to walk on the water.

The sun was lowering in the sky as we headed back to our cars. Most went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Four of us remained to continue searching for at least one of the sparrows that live near the sea. No luck.

Our count dinner at Pasteria 811 was delicious. When we did the count down, we came up with 131 species for the trip!

A few more hours of birding on Monday morning helped us to add a few more birds to the list. Several birders stopped at a hammock shop at Pawley’s Island to see what they could find and spotted a female Painted Bunting. Around 10:30 am, we found (thanks to Frank Lawkins) the reported female Common Goldeneye at Mullet’s Pond at Huntington Beach State Park. Killdeer were also added to the list. A final count of 135 was fantastic!

Even though we probably endured a few inches of rain and fairly low temperatures on two of the days, it was a great trip.  I agree with Heather; our memories of our Winter Trip 2016 will always make us nostalgic.

Photo credits: Gail & Ferd Crotte, Cynthia Donaldson, Gregg Donaldson, Heather Moir

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The Birds of 2015 – A Year Filled with Surprises

Birders love surprises and 2015 was full of them. Adding to last year’s fun was our Forsyth County 2015 Photo Big Year. Surprises included birds rare to Forsyth County, birds rarely photographed, and birds rarely photographed so beautifully.

The rare birds started on New Year’s Day with this Cackling Goose photographed by Susan Disher at Cornerstone Living Center ponds, on Reynolds Park Road near Salem Lake Road.

Another rare goose quickly followed, a Ross’s Goose at Lake Hills in Pfafftown on January 5. Here is my photo of that bird.

Wayne Petel was one of the lucky few who had wintering Baltimore Orioles at his feeders.  His photo of this gorgeous male is one of my favorite photos of the year, taken on January 12.

Rare waterfowl continued with a Surf Scoter found and photographed at Swann Water Treatment Plant in Lewisville by Mike Conway on January 24.  This is only the fourth county record.  The Swann Plant hosted another rare bird the following month, a Red-throated Loon found and photographed by Nathan Gatto on February 18.  The loon was also the fourth county record.

Phil Dickinson’s photo of a Red-shouldered Hawk in his Winston-Salem front yard on February 7 was another favored photo.  Phil watched the hawk catch a chipmunk and then fly to a close-by tree to enjoy its meal. We called this photo “What’s for breakfast?”

An Eastern Screech Owl photographed by Matt Cuda on February 23 in northern Forsyth County was a surprise of another kind.  Screech Owls are resident breeding birds here, but I never expected that we would get a photo of one.

On March 25, we were surprised with a photo of an American Woodcock, another common bird, but one extremely difficult to photograph. This bird was apparently the victim of a window crash and was photographed by Lesa Dowell on the roof of a downtown Winston-Salem office building.  Fortunately, the bird seemed to recover and was able to fly away.

While rarities are fun, the Photo Big Year helped us get many wonderful photos of our common birds.  Leesa Goodson shot this photo of a White-eyed Vireo at Tanglewood on April 5.

It wouldn’t be spring without warblers and we got photos of most of them.  Here is Nathan Gatto’s lovely Prairie Warbler, photographed at Reynolda on April 25.

Another favorite was Heather Moir’s Pileated Woodpecker, also photographed at Reynolda, on April 30.

On July 13, Jean Aldrich found an Anhinga flying over Bethabara Parkway near the former Johanne’s Restaurant ponds. This was the first report of Anhinga in the county.  No photo was taken, so the bird was added to our official Forsyth County bird list in a provisional status.

The next big surprise of the year occurred on August 14 when Cynthia Donaldson found the first Western Kingbird ever reported in Forsyth County.  The normal range for this bird is Western North America, just as its name suggests.  They do wander a bit in the fall, showing up mostly along the coast, but there are very few records for inland North Carolina.  Here is Cynthia’s photo taken on Kapp Road in Pfafftown.

The kingbird was followed by another unusual sighting just a few days later on August 20, a Baird’s Sandpiper found by David Disher at Archie Elledge.  There are only a handful of county reports and this was the first since 2007.

Exactly one week later, on August 27, Hop Hopkins found a Cerulean Warbler at Bethabara Historic Park.  This bird was unusual in that it stayed for several days allowing quite a few birders to see it.  Hop got the beautiful photo below.

On September 22, Kim Brand received a phone call from a friend, Mindy Conner, with a report of an unusual hummingbird in her Winston-Salem backyard.  Later that day, the bird was identified as a Buff-bellied Hummingbird. This was what birders call a mega-rarity. It was not only a county record, but only the second time the bird has been seen in the state!  Mindy welcomed birders to her yard and this jewel has been seen by hundreds of birders. Here is Hop Hopkins’ photo.

Fall waterfowl migration brings us back to Lake Hills, this time for a Greater White-fronted Goose, on November 6.  This is only the fourth time this species has been reported in Forsyth County.  David Disher’s photo is below.

During the Forsyth Audubon Second Saturday bird walk on November 14 at Muddy Creek Greenway, we added another county record bird, Golden Eagle.  The bird was initially identified as an immature Bald Eagle.  But, new Audubon members Tony and Cara Woods were on the walk and Cara got a photo with enough detail to change the identification to Golden Eagle.  Amazingly, this was the fourth county record for 2015.

Another surprise for the year were two Northern Bobwhites that visited David and Susan Disher’s Winston-Salem yard.  Bobwhite are becoming increasingly difficult to find in Forsyth County with only a few scattered reports.  The Dishers’ visitors stayed for a couple of days.  Here is Susan’s photo.

Four Forsyth county records made 2015 an outstanding birding year.  So many folks seeing those birds made it even more special.  We are lucky to have a generous community of birders who love to share.  That group spirit was exemplified by participation in our Photo Big Year.  We published images of 193 species by 28 photographers.  Thanks to everyone’s quick-thinking, skill and talent we were able to beautifully document our Forsyth County birds of 2015.  Six people had over a dozen photos each that we used – Hop Hopkins, David Disher, Nathan Gatto, Leesa Goodson, Phil Dickinson, and Wayne Petel.  Every person who contributed made a difference, but these six folks deserve special recognition and thanks.

We were able to publish photos of all the “expected” species except Wilson’s Snipe, Chuck-will’s-widow, Eastern Whip-poor-will, Swainson’s Thrush, Blackpoll Warbler, and Yellow-breasted Chat.  We missed photographing seven “likely” species – Broad-winged Hawk, Virginia Rail, Black Tern, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Canada Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, and Bobolink.  Remember, those chances represented our expectations of the birds being seen in any year, not the ease with which they could be photographed.  We published photos of 18 “possible” species, those are are not guaranteed to even be seen in any particular year.  Three of the four county record birds were photographed, allowing these birds to be added to our official county bird list as “accepted.”

See the Photo Big Year page for links to the species pages displaying all the images and photographers’ names, dates, and locations.

 

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Winston-Salem Christmas Bird Count – December 2015

By Ron Morris

The Winston-Salem Christmas Bird Count set a new record for the number of species seen.  The count on Saturday, Dec. 19^th yielded 14,482 birds of 91 species.  They were found by 54 birders in 12 teams.  The previous record was 87 species in 2013 and 2014.

The most notable birds were the Buff-bellied Hummingbird that has been visiting feeders near Wake Forest since September, a Nashville Warbler and three Orange-crowned Warblers.  Below is Cara Woods’ photo of the Nashville Warbler found by the Bethabara team.

This year’s count was held a couple of weeks earlier than the past few years and that meant that a few species of waterfowl that typically arrive a little later in winter were not found.

Other good finds were three Bald Eagles seen by the Northside team; three Bonaparte’s and one Herring Gull in addition to the expected Ring-billed Gulls at Salem Lake; and the two Peregrine Falcons that have been hanging out downtown.

Of particular interest was the number of Red-headed Woodpeckers.  They were seen by 7 of 12 teams, mostly in ones and twos, but the Tanglewood team found 7, for a total of 15.  This is the second largest number of Red-headed Woodpeckers on the Winston-Salem CBC, after 18 were counted in 1971.  The average number of these birds over the past 30 years is less than 2 per year.  Many of the Red-headed Woodpeckers were immature birds like the one below photographed by Wayne Petel at Tanglewood in October.

Count week species were a Merlin seen by Hop Hopkins on Kapp Road in Pfafftown and a Bobwhite observed by the Hammonds in northern Forsyth County.

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