August Hiatus

This month has been remarkable. My belly is growing rapidly (I'm over 4 months pregnant now with our first child) and I've been working hard at the Piedmont Wildlife Center. My husband and I have taken a number of short hikes along the Eno River and at the Little River Regional Preserve, encountering lots young toads along the way. Next, we're off to Nova Scotia. Please expect a full resurgence of weekly nature blogs in September. Thank you for your patience!

Penny's Bend Nature Preserve (Durham, NC)

On Sunday, July 6, my husband and I explored Penny's Bend, in northeastern Durham. As a native Midwesterner, I especially enjoy visiting this unique preserve because I can find a little piece of home there, in the form of prairie. Penny's Bend is a 84-acre preserve, surrounded on three sides by the Eno River. It is underlain by diabase rock, which not only deflects that Eno River, thus accounting for the characteristic "bend," but is also responsible for the unusual, high pH soil at Penny's Bend. This soil supports a rare remnant of Piedmont prairie, one of the highlights of the site.

The preserve is located off of Snow Hill Road at the intersection Old Oxford Road. Trash litters the gravel parking area, but a small path to the right leads to a true North Carolina gem: Piedmont prairie. At the beginning of July, one can expect to see the fading white blooms of wild quinine (Parthenium integrifolium), the bright yellow disks of rosinweeds (Silphium spp), and the stunning purple head of the federally and state threatened smooth purple coneflower (Echinacea laevigata). The dark seed pods of wild blue indigo (Baptisia australis) also make a strong impression.

Smooth purple conflower (Echinacea laevigata)

Wild quinine (Parthenium integrifolium)

Whorled rosinweed (Silphium trifoliatum)

After taking in the beauty of the prairie, visitors can continue to hike through floodplain forest along the Eno River. Be on the lookout for eastern box turtles, black racers, butterflies (e.g., common wood nymphs - Cercyonis pegala, red spotted purples - Limenitis arthemis), and dragonflies (e.g., widow skimmers - Libellula luctuosa).

Red spotted purple (Limenitis arthemis)

Widow skimmer (female) (Libellula luctuosa)

For more information on the regarding Piedmont prairie, please refer to:

Davis, J. E., C McRae, B. L. Estep, L. S. Barden and J. F. Matthews. 2002. Vascular flora of Piedmont prairies: evidence from several prairie remnants. Castanea 67(1): 1-12.

Taecker, E. M. 2007. Identification and prioritization of lands for restoration of Piedmont prairie in North Carolina. Master's Thesis: Duke University. 44p

ROADTRIP: Green Swamp Preserve (Wilmington, NC)

The Nature Conservancy's nearly 16,000 acre Green Swamp Preserve represents one of the best examples of the region's longleaf pine savanna. The understory is filled with carnivorous plants, including pitcher plants, Venus flytraps, and sundews. The preserve is also home to a number of orchid species. Mostly dominated by pocosin -- thick, shrubby boglands, the Green Swamp Preserve is excellent place to spend the day botanizing. It also has some pleasant surprises for birds, including Henslow's and Bachman's sparrows.

If you choose to visit the Green Swamp this time of year, the pocosins will be largely dried up, but you will get to see pitcher plants in full bloom!

Sarracenia flava

Howell Woods, Four Oaks, NC

On Sunday, I was able to explore Howell Woods, a property donated to the Johnston County Community College in 1993 by Rudolph Howell. The preserve boasts a number short trails that traverse floodplain forests, old fields, ponds, and savannahs.

Birding here is excellent. During a short hike we were able to identify 26 bird species including red throated hummingbirds, hooded warblers, common yellow throats, chipping and fox sparrows, Acadian flycatchers and eastern kingbirds.

For herp enthusiasts, we also discovered a number of amphibians (Fowler's toads, cricket frogs, and Cope's gray treefrogs), lizards (racerunners), and snakes (black racers).

Mason Farm, Chapel Hill, NC

This past weekend, I tried to enjoy what may be the last peak weekend of the spring bird migration through North Carolina. On Saturday morning, I visited the 367-acre Mason Farm Biological Farm in Chapel Hill, NC with the Duke Natural History Society.

The Reserve contains a number of great birding habitats, including hardwood bottomlands and old fields. It also houses more species of animals than any other comparably sized site in the Piedmont -- including 216 bird species.

Walking the two mile Reserve loop, we identified over 33 bird species with the help of expert birder Will Cook (please visit his excellent website: http://www.carolinanature.com/). Species included tanagers, vireos, redstarts, black-and-white warblers, yellow breasted chats, and common yellowthroats.

If you're interested in visiting Mason Farm Biological Reserve, stop by the Totten Center of the North Carolina Botanic Garden up the road and pick up a pass.

ROADTRIP: Stone Mountain State Park (Roaring Gap, NC)

Located about 140 miles west of Raleigh, NC, Stone Mountain State Park is a beautiful spot to spend an afternoon. The park, created in 1975, features large, smooth granite rock faces and a number of waterfalls. Most visitors will take the short hike to Stone Mountain falls, enjoying a number of different views. If you keep going past the main attraction, you will be delighted by babbling, rocky brooks and the smaller, but more serene Lower and Middle Falls.

Besides having a great water features, the park also has some interesting tree species that are special treats for those living in the Piedmont, including white pines and eastern hemlocks. Some of the ridges are also covered with scarlet and chestnut oaks. This park is sure to be a crowd-pleaser during the spring bird migrations (think: scarlet tanagers), which should be starting shortly.

After your hike, be sure to stop into the small visitor center to view some old folk art and learn about the natural history of the area. Wine enthusiasts can also stop into a number of local vineyards for tastings -- McRitchie Winery is highly recommended.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens

On Tuesday, April 1 at 7pm Dr. Kathryn Kennedy, from the Center for Plant Conservation, St. Louis, MO, will be coming to the Duke Gardens to give a presentation on "America's Vanishing Flora." Please contact the Gardens if you are interested in attending (919-684-3698).

If you aren't able to make it for the lecture, come enjoy the Gardens another day. Located on 55 acres in the middle of Duke University, the Gardens provide a nice atmosphere for an afternoon picnic or quick weekend getaway. The Gardens also contain a great display of native flora in the H. L. Blomquist Garden of Native Plants, which includes trillium, adder's tongue, and many more spring woodland flowers, as well as a plenty of native trees and shrubs.

Don't forget to stop by the ponds to enjoy the sunning turtles and quacking waterfowl!

March Hiatus

There are no recommendations listed for the month of March, as I have been enjoying a month long hiatus in New Zealand and Australia. Please be on the look out for new hiking recommendations and natural history observations in April.

Falls Lake State Recreation Area (Durham, NC)

On Tuesday morning, I revisited Falls Lake State Recreation Area at the Brickhouse Road entrance in north Durham off of Old Oxford Road. Be aware, this area is commonly used for hunting waterfowl (please use caution when visiting and wear bright colors), as it's home to a number of waterfowl impoundments. There are a few trails off the main gravel path, one of which makes a wide loop back to the main road. This route overlooks a large wetland, from which one often sees a wide a variety of ducks and over-wintering warblers. The purpose of this trip was to see how the drought and low water levels affected the normally impressive variety of birdlife present at this impoundment. Unfortunately, and as expected, the wetlands have shrunk dramatically and not a single duck was present. I heartily recommend a trip to Falls Lake, to see the effects of the drought and water consumption on our natural resources. WARNING: this excursion may lead to some substantial changes in water use at home!

Drastically reduced wetland at Falls Lake State Recreation Area, in previous years this entire area has been completely submerged.

ROADTRIP: Lake Mattamuskeet & Swanquarter NWR

On Sunday, my husband and I took a road trip to one of North Carolina's hottest spots for winter birds: Lake Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge. Lake Mattamuskeet, located about 200 miles east of the Triangle in Hyde County, is North Carolina's largest natural lake. It is very shallow and nutrient rich, providing food for the thousands of waterfowl that overwinter on the lake.

We arrived to Lake Mattamuskeet at around eight in the morning, and were immediately greeted by the cheery squaking and babbling of hundreds of tundra swans, northern pintails, American coots, pied-billed grebes, plus green winged teals, northern shovelers, redheads, and mallards. Most of our birding was done from the car, and as we drove towards the historic lodge, we also discovered long tailed muskrats with young swimming in the dark canals. Behind the old lodge, we found basking double crested cormorants and one noisy black crowned night heron.

Tundra swans and American coots at Lake Mattamuskeet

Tundra swan and American coot at Lake Mattamuskeet

After visiting the old lodge, we took a hike on a short boardwalk that went through cypress and wetlands. This trail yielded several warblers and vireos, and we watched several different flocks of ducks rise up out of the marsh. Back on the road, driving further out across the lake, we saw numerous great blue herons, great egrets, tundra swans, American wigeons, white ibises, and hooded mergansers. All the while, northern flickers and tree swallows flitted across the road.

View of Lake Mattamuskeet

Tundra swans at Lake Mattamuskeet

Our next stop was Swanquarter NWR, a refuge of coastal marsh established in 1932. Here, we walked along the boardwalk jutting out over the marsh and spied great blue herons, brown pelicans, great black-backed gulls, herring gulls, and ruddy ducks!

Driving around this region in winter, towards Pungo Lake, birders are likely to see large flocks of red-winged blackbirds being harangued by low soaring northern harriers, as well as vultures, killdeer, crows, herons, and kestrels.

Red winged black birds near Pungo Lake