ZO 501 Ornithology - Spring 2009

Sightings

This aspect of the lab is designed to encourage students to become aware of the local avifauna outside of scheduled lab time. We want you to look for birds on your own. As an incentive, you can earn bonus points for additions to this list of bird sightings.

Rules for receiving bonus points

Each student can earn a maximum of two points per week (weeks restart on Monday), for a maximum total of 25 bonus points. A point will be awarded to the first person(s) who submits a sighting of a new species outside of lab time. All submissions for a new species received on the same day will be awarded points. Students are allowed only one submission per day, and the submission must be made within 24 hours of the observation. In addition, three points will be awarded for the first active nest (with eggs or chicks) found for each species. Use the form below to submit sightings.

Sighting Form

Species List

	Species	Location	Date	Sighting or nest	Comments	Observer(s)
1	European Starling	Cup a Joe	1/6	sighting	What a voice	Ted
2	American Crow	NCSU brickyard/ Brooks Ave	1/7	sighting	Eating a french fry/2 crows	Elizabeth Evans/Liz Rutledge-Aspinwall
3	Northern Mockingbird	Campus/House off Western Blvd	1/7	sighting	conspicuous post/Its territory runs from my porch to my car	Shawna Buerkle/Jessie Birckhead
4	Northern Cardinal	Fraternity Court	1/7	sighting	hopping along a shrub edge	Jesse Degnan
5	Downy Woodpecker	Lake Wheeler	1/7	sighting	Out fishing saw it on a Sem myrtle bush	Matt Pulliam & Jeremy Remington
6	Bufflehead	Reservoirs near RDU	1/8	sighting	Goofy looking ducks	Jeremy Remington
7	House Finch	Chamberlain St.	1/8	sighting	hanging out on neighbor's porch	Shawna Buerkle
8	American Goldfinch	My backyard in Wendell	1/8	sighting	Saw nine of them together	Matt Pulliam
9	Red-bellied Woodpecker	Pullen Park	1/8	sighting	Drumming on an oak tree	Geoffrey Broadhead
10	Belted Kingfisher	Durant and Falls	1/8	sighting		Cameron Gatling
11	Red-tailed Hawk	Outside Bragaw at 7am	1/9	sighting	Perched at the very top of a tree	Rose Roulette
12	Dark-eyed Junco	Yanceyville, NC	1/10	sighting	Lots of them	Geoffrey Broadhead
13	Cedar Waxwing	New Hope Creek Area	1/10	sighting	Flock roosting on Red Maple and feeding on Carolina Laurel Cherries	Brad Carey
14	White-throated Sparrow	Lake Johnson parking lot	1/10	sighting	It was cold, looked like a puffball.	Ed Davis
15	Canada Goose	Outside of Boulevard Animal Hospital	1/10	sighting	Two large flocks flying in perfect "v" formations	Rose Roulette
16	Pied-billed Grebe	Bald Head Island	1/11	sighting	Pair spotted swimming in golf course pond while out tracking deer	Jesse Birckhead
17	Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	Home	1/11	sighting	Searched my bacony and rain gutters for nesting material I think	Brad Carey
18	Ring-necked Duck	Sharon Harris Lake	1/10	sighting	Worked our decoys for the last time!	Billy Paugh
19	Rock Pigeon	NCSU fairground/telephone line	1/12	sighting	7-8 sitting together/evenly spaced	Liz Rutledge-Aspinwall/Shawna Buerkle
20	Blue Jay	Raleigh/West Lot	1/12	sighting	Three of them calling to each other	Jesse Degnan/Rose Roulette
21	Tufted Titmouse	Dunn Ave.	1/12	sighting		Geoffrey Broadhead
22	American Coot	Lake Wheeler	1/12	sighting	Just swimming around the lake	Matthew Pulliam
23	Great Blue Heron	Pond on Penny Road in Greensboro	1/13	sighting	2 herons with a number of other species	Liz Rutledge-Aspinwall
24	Mourning Dove	Dan Allen	1/13	sighting	On a telephone line	Shawna Buerkle
25	Eastern Towhee	Boulevard Animal Hospital	1/14	sighting	Scratching around in the leaves for food	Rose Roulette
26	Mallard	Wolf Village Pond	1/14	sighting	Male and female swimming in pond	Nicholas Leonard
27	Carolina Wren	Raleigh Area	1/14	sighting	Doing bird stuff	Jeremy Remington
28	American Robin	Dunn ave/everywhere	1/16	sighting		Geoffrey Broadhead
29	Turkey Vulture	Neard RDU airport	1/17	sighting	Riding thermals	Jessie Birckhead
30	Killdeer	Person County	1/18	sighting	Saw it near the pond on the farm	Matt Pulliam
31	Tundra Swan	Off Hwy 64E (Near Rocky Mount)	1/18	sighting	About 75+ swans sitting in a pond	Sara Marschhauser
32	Carolina Chickadee	My backyard in Raleigh	1/19	sighting	A couple hanging out in the trees	Sara Marschhauser
33	Brown Thrasher	Along Whitmore Ave.	1/20	sighting	Hopping around in roadside brush	Rose Roulette
34	Northern Flicker	Person County	1/20	sighting	Saw multiple ones across the farm	Matt Pulliam
35	American Kestrel	It was perched on a powerline overlooking a field next to the Schenck entrance	1/21	sighting	First time I had ever seen one in person. They are very tiny raptors	Jesse Degnan
36	Cooper's Hawk	Off Cary Parkway	1/21	sighting	I was driving really slowly	Shawna Buerkle
37	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	Off Oberlin Drive	1/20	sighting	I got a quick (but very close) look as it flew right in front of me into the bushes/hedge	Geoffrey Broadhead
38	Song Sparrow	Outside of Nelson	1/21	sighting	3 or 4 in a bush	Jenny Spencer
39	White-breasted Nuthatch	Oval outside DH Hill/Pullen Park	1/22	sighting	Really far down on trunk/Upside down on tree	Shawna Buerkle/Geoffrey Broadhead
40	Hermit Thrush	North Raleigh	1/26	sighting	It popped up while I was walking through the wood at work	Cameron Gatling
41	Yellow-rumped Warbler	Raleigh	1/26	sighting	In the wax myrtle in my front yard	Jesse Degnan
42	Canvasback	Sharon Harris Lake	1/27	sighting	In the Decoy	Billy Paugh
43	Black Vulture	Field in Trinity, NC	1/27	sighting	Sitting on the large power lines in a group of 15+	Nicholas Leonard
44	Double-crested Cormorant	Lake Wheeler	1/27	sighting	About 7 of them standing on the dock in the sun	Matt Pulliam
45	Mute Swans	Penny Rd. Greensboro	1/29	sighting	1 pair	Liz Rutledge-Aspinwall
46	Hooded Merganser	Grassy Meadow Rd., Greensboro	1/29	sighting	2 males, 2 females, they have been located at a small pond for approximately 1 month	Liz Rutledge-Aspinwall
47	Sharp-shinned Hawk	Oberlin Road	1/30	sighting	Surprisingly small hawk, appeared to be a juvenile (according to my good friend Sibley)	Geoffrey Broadhead
48	Snow Goose	Pocosin Lakes NWR	1/31	sighting	they were flying high over our class	Ed Davis
49	Wild Turkey	Hyde County	1/31	sighting	12 in a corn field	Jessie Birckhead
50	Northern Harrier	Lake Mattamuskeet	1/31	sighting	Harrasing ducks in a flooded field	Jessie Birckhead
51	Ring-billed Gull	Lake Wheeler	1/31	sighting	thousands of them on the lake	Matt Pulliam
52	Bald Eagle	Lake Mattamuskeet/Lake Raleigh	1/31 2/2	sighting	2 Juves looming over waterfowl/Went back to look for birds and saw him sitting in a dead tree	Chris Coxen/Matt Pulliam
53	Great Egret	Lake Mattamuskeet	1/31	sighting	Hanging out in a small pool	Chris Coxen
54	Great Black-backed Gull	Atlantic Beach	2/2	sighting	A couple hanging out on the beach with ring-billed gulls! huge!	Sara Marschhauser
55	Red-shouldered Hawk	Falls and I-440	2/3	sighting	Landed on a telephone pole right beside the off ramp	Cameron Gatling
56	Brown Pelican	Atlantic Beach	2/3	sighting	Flying everywhere	Sara Marschhauser
57	Eastern Bluebird	Raleigh	2/4	sighting	Perched on a fence at Schenck Forest	Jesse Degnan
58	Ruddy Duck	Yates Mill Pond	2/8	sighting	Spotted a few pairs while working on wood duck boxes in the pond	Jesse Birckhead
59	Hairy Woodpecker	Close to jordan Lake	2/8	sighting	pecking in the yard	Ed Davis
60	Swamp Sparrow	Raleigh, NC	2/8	sighting	Very concerned after I started making the Psshht sound	Jeremy Remington
61	Common Grackle	Dunn Ave, Raleigh	2/10	sighting		Geoffrey Broadhead
62	Red-headed Woodpecker	Raleigh	2/10	sighting	Hanging out on a snag	Jeremy Remington
63	Brown-headed Cowbird	Pullen Road	2/12	sighting	Singing and flying overhead	Geoffrey Broadhead
64	House Sparrow	Nelson Hall	2/11	sighting/nest	Heard alot of them as they were building a nest under the pourch at Nelson hall	Matt Pulliam
65	Red-winged Blackbird	Cary, NC - near a small pond	2/13	sighting	Sitting in a tall tree	Sara Marschhauser
66	Pileated Woodpecker	Bladen County	2/14	sighting	Saw it fly up to a tree heading to Jones Lake St Park it was my first one	Matt Pulliam
67	White Ibis	Brittlebank Park, Charleston SC	2/14	sighting	Flock of 7 coming in to roost.	Jessie Birckhead
68	Eastern Pheobe	Francis Biedler Forest, Harleyville SC	2/15	sighting	Hanging out in the old growth swamp!	Jessie Birckhead
69	Boat-tailed Grackle	Patriot's Point docks in Mt. Pleasant, SC	2/15	sighting	Males and Females both around the docks during a sailing regatta	April Alix
70	Chipping Sparrow	Between Scott and Kilgore Halls	2/26	sighting	Little brown birds	Geoffrey Broadhead
71	White Pelican	Jordan Lake and Highway 64	3/1	sighting	3 flew right over the car while driving home past 64	Nicholas Leonard
72	Bald Eagle	Charleston, SC	3/1	nest	in adjacent neighborhood for years; forgot about it until last Fri	Shawna Buerkle
73	Peregrine Falcon	Washington, DC	3/3	sighting	It went after some pigeons, didn't get one	Ed Davis
74	Eastern meadowlark	Yanceyville, NC	3/4	sighting		Geoffrey Broadhead
75	Barn Owl	Hill Forest	3/5	sighting	ID by call while we were taking a short break from burning	Jesse Degnan
76	Osprey	Jordan Lake	3/6	sighting and nest	Hovering like a Helicopter	Brad Carey
77	Wood Duck	Brier Creek	3/6	sighting	Group of 4	Jeremy Remington
78	Brown-headed Nuthatch	Beaver Lake, Asheville	3/7	sighting	Pair on tree	Liz Evans
79	Wilson's Snipe	Beaver Lake, Asheville	3/8	sighting	Almost invisible in the tall grass	Liz Evans
80	Indian Peafowl	Cat Cay Island, Bahamas	3/6	sighting	Group of three pecking at ground	April Alix
81	American White Ibis	Cat Cay Island, Bahamas	3/5	sighting	Two on a golf course in private residential area	April Alix
82	Laughing Gull	Folly Beach, SC	3/8	sighting	black head gave me a tip	Shawna Buerkle
83	American Woodcock	Bull Neck Swamp, NC	3/7	sighting	We were about 15 yards from it, and saw its "dance"!/couple of them flew right over us and were sitting on the ground near us.	Sara Marschhauser/Ed Davis
84	Mountain Bluebird	Cameron, AZ	3/4	sighting		Cameron Gatling
85	Mountain Chickadee	Grand Canyon, AZ	3/6	sighting		Cameron Gatling
86	Barred Owl	Somewhere in Orange or Durham County	3/8	sighting	Flew over the road at 6am	Geoffrey Broadhead
87	Gray Catbird	Wakefield	3/16	sighting	In a tree, confusing our bird counts	Cameron Gatling, Liz Evans, Jesse Degnan, Brad Carey, April Alix
88	Tree Swallow	Lake Wheeler	3/14	sighting	Birds were swooping very close to the waters edge catching bugs during a rainy, cold regatta	April Alix
89	Fish Crow	Wolf Village parking lot	3/10	sighting	"ah-ah" call	Rose Roulette
90	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	My usual	3/9	sighting	Going bananas on top of a huge snag	Jeremy Remington
91	Purple Finch	Wakefield	3/16	sighting		Cameron Gatling
92	Red-shouldered Hawk	Pittsboro	3/22	nest		Ed Davis
93	Eastern Pheobe	Swift Creek	3/24	sighting		Geoffrey Broadhead
94	Mute Swan	Lake Raleigh	3/28	nest/sighting	While canoeing	Shawna Buerkle
95	Northern Shoveler	Bayou Metro WMA, Stuttgart, AR	3/28	sighting	Gotta love the Mississippi flyway	Jessie Birckhead
96	Blue-winged Teal	Bayou Metro WMA, Stuttgart, AR	3/28	sighting	in a flooded rice field	Jessie Birckhead
97	Pine Siskin	at a feeder	3/27	sighting		Jesse Degnan
98	Herring Gull	Lake Jordan	3/28	sighting		Jesse Degnan
99	American Robin	In front of my house	3/29	nest	Eggs in nest in live oak	Chris Coxen
100	Mourning Dove	courtyard between Burlington and Patterson Halls	3/30	nest	nest is a mass of twigs and leaves in a tree; both parents tending nest	Rose Roulette
101	Northern Mockingbird	Off Kaplan Drive	3/30	nest	Mom and Dad were sitting on top of the bush, they were not happy I was so close.	Sara Marschhauser
102	Wood Duck	Yates Mill Pond	3/31	sighting/nest	14 eggs in one of the Wildlife club's nest boxes!	Jessie Birckhead
103	Rock Pigeon	Cary	4/3	nest	Saw a nest by a friend's house in a high density neighborhood	April Alix
104	Broad-winged Hawk	On I-40 near Southpoint	4/3	sighting	Just flying around - pretty amazing though!	April Alix
105	House Finch	Court of the Carolinas	4/2	nest	Getting in some much needed ID practice	Ed Davis and Chris Coxen
106	Cliff Swallow	Jordan Dam Tower	4/5	nest	Twenty nest brooding	Brad Carey
107	Chimney Swift	Campus	4/5	sighting	lots of them	Liz Evans
108	Carolina Wren	On a beam under the deck at home/Charlotte	4/6	nest	Eggs were layed in the nest that was built in my lacrosse helmet. Mom was not happy when I stuck my face in front to check it out. I almost lost an eye.	Nicholas Leonard/Jesse Degnan
109	White-breasted Nuthatch	big tree at entrance to freedom of expression tunnel	4/10	nest	the male was defending it from a squirrel and then he fed the female who was inside the cavity, it was adorable.	Liz Evans
110	Black Skimmer	Bald Head Island	4/10	sighting	Sighted on ecology field trip	Geoffrey Broadhead
111	Eastern Bluebird	Jordan Dam	4/12	Nest	1 egg in a Bluebird box	Brad Carey
112	Royal Tern	Bald Head Island	4/11	sighting	Large flock sitting on the beach	Geoffrey Broadhead
113	Canada Goose	Greenway at Lake Johnson	4/12	nest	Just out of sight from the paved path	Jessie Birckhead
114	Purple Martin	Lake Wheeler	4/13	sighting	A flock of them flying around and eating insects	Matt Pulliam
115	Common Grackle	Across from Thomson Theatre	4/14	nest		Geoffrey Broadhead
116	Northern Cardinal	Five Points, Raleigh	4/17	nest	Nesting by a window looking into my folk's house	Jessie Birckhead
117	Eastern Kingbird	Lake Wheeler	4/19	sighting	Just calling away down by the lake	Matt Pulliam
118	Red-breasted Merganser	Jordan Lake	4/19	sighting	1 male, 2 females	Brad Carey
119	Ovenbird	Hill Forest	4/19	sighting		Jesse Degnan
120	Red-eyed Vireo	Franklin Co, NC	4/19	sighting	Singing next to the creek	Billy Paugh
121	Barn Swallow	Mount Ulla, NC	4/19	sighting	flying from my barn	Matthew Owen
122	Carolina Chickadee	Lake Wheeler	4/21	nest	This bird built a nest in the swing gates we use to lock the park that gets moved everyday and everytime I close she comes flying out	Matt Pulliam
123	Blue Jay	Behind Cameron Village	4/22	nest	I finally found one!	Shawna Buerkle
124	Ruby-throated Hummingbird	New Hope Creek area	4/22	sighting	fed on feeder	Brad Carey
125	Eastern Towhee	Arboretum	4/20	nest	Found in a bush	Chris Coxen
126	Rose-breasted Grosbeak	Augusta, GA	4/26	sighting	Sitting on a bird feeder	Billy Paugh