Date: January 13, 2000

Time: 8:15-11:30 AM

Forest edge and fields -- loop road around Big Oak Woods and wet areas at south end

Chilly, sunny, calm

CICONIIFORMES
Great Blue Heron	2	including a great view of an immature flying past in the sunlight
Turkey Vulture	2	maybe more
FALCONIFORMES
Red-tailed Hawk	1	flew from the northwestern corner of BOW, later soared over the North Fields
Cooper's Hawk	1	big immature female flushed from trees along the North Ditch, later soared low overhead
CHARADRIIFORMES
Common Snipe	1	flushed from wet field
PICIFORMES
Northern Flicker	8	in flight with yellowish wings and white rump, also feeding on the ground
Red-headed Woodpecker	5	including at least 3 young with heads still mostly brown, at the northwestern corner and along the east side of BOW
Red-bellied Woodpecker	4
Downy Woodpecker	2	but no Hairy Woodpeckers
PASSERIFORMES
JAY AND CROW FAMILY
Blue Jay	4	or more, including one imitating a Red-tailed Hawk repeatedly
American Crow	1	calling in distance
CHICKADEE FAMILY
Carolina Chickadee	6	several small groups or pairs
Tufted Titmouse	4	including at least two singing briefly
WREN FAMILY
Carolina Wren	4	two sang briefly
MIMIC FAMILY
Northern Mockingbird	2
Brown Thrasher	3
THRUSH FAMILY
Hermit Thrush	4	including one heard only
Eastern Bluebird	6	spectacular in the sunshine
KINGLET FAMILY
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	4	never sat still, one showed its red spot briefly
WOOD-WARBLER FAMILY
Pine Warbler	1	very yellow male in pine seedlings -- usually stays in the tops of large pines
Yellow-rumped Warbler	6	in drab winter plumage (except for the often-concealed yellow rump), including several in shrubs in an old field
CARDINAL FAMILY
Northern Cardinal	10	some banded!
SPARROW FAMILY
Rufous-sided Towhee	10	both sexes, lots of "chwink" calls
Dark-eyed Junco	20	in small single-species flocks
Field Sparrow	6	in bushy fields
White-throated Sparrow	50	along edges of roads
Fox Sparrow	4	including one that sang very briefly
Swamp Sparrow	20	skulking in wet fields, one or two good looks!
Song Sparrow	20	pumping their tails in flight
FINCH FAMILY
American Goldfinch	20	in drab winter plumage, in brushy fields and flying overhead

NOTES

Some surprisng misses -- no blackbirds, no waxwings, no ducks or geese.

Also there was no sign of the Red-tailed Hawk's nest in the northeastern corner of BOW as in previous years -- but maybe the bird flying from the northwestern corner is an indication we should look there!

Common Snipe were hard to find -- just one flushed from the wet fields.   Perhaps the heavy snow had sent most of them farther south.

A big female Cooper's Hawk flushed from the hedgerow in the North Fields, then soon after flew across the fields to the edge of BOW, and finally soared right overhead -- a great view of its long tail and neck and the broad white tip of its rounded tail.

The big news was the discovery of a freshly constructed beaver lodge south of BOW near the MFBR boundary -- one of the biggest I have ever seen in NC.   The water in the surrounding fields was deeper than usual -- so the beavers have no doubt constructed a dam along the boundary.   The old-growth forest in BOW is in danger of drowning once again, just as in the late '80s and early '90s when a beaver impoundment killed about 2 hectares (5 acres) of old trees.   We'll have to keep an eye on the situation!