On day one of our week of birding, we left our house at 5 a.m. and arrived at Big Woods National Forest just south of Wakefield, VA at 8 a.m. Big Woods is home to the protected Red-cockaded Woodpecker and it is the northernmost range of this little bird. Recently, a trail was made to a nesting site put in by the VA Dept of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF). To get to the trail head we drove several miles on a dirt road with some impressive ruts and potholes. Then we walked a half mile through loblolly pine forest with little to no under story. This is the perfect habitat of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker. The DGIF had marked the trail with wonderful symbols to follow on a pine needle and sometimes wet forested floor.
The DGIF does controlled burns to keep the forest under story from getting too tall.
We were all alone feeling a little like Hansel and Gretel as we walked through the forest. Then we arrived at the protected nesting site, which to be honest is really protected because it's a pain in the neck to get to and they don't advertise it on the main (dirt) road. You have to walk 1/4 mile down the path just to find the trail to the nesting site. It's not advertised much if at all.
We found the tree with the nesting cavity. It was put there by the DGIF as illustrated on the info. plaque at the end of the trail.
If you click on and enlarge the above photo you can see a tree with a white painted ring near the base. This is where the nesting cavity is located. Here is a close up of the nesting cavity:
We spent about 45 minutes there scanning and listening for the birds but only heard Brown-headed Nuthatches which have a similar squeaky mouse sound. That happens with birding sometimes that you don't see what you went to see. We had seen the birds in another part of the forest two years ago. It was nice to see a nesting cavity with it's sap dried on the trunk. In warm weather the sap gets sticky and discourages snakes from going after the chicks in the cavity. The birds will drill holes around the opening to let the sap flow, but in this instance a DGIF worker made cuts in the trunk to help the birds out.
Here is a photo of a Red-cockaded Woodpecker we saw high in the trees two years ago:
Continuing south-east we arrived here:
The Great Dismal Swamp NWR is over 100,000 acres with a 3100 acre Lake Drummond in the center. The road to the lake is 6 miles long, gravel and narrow cutting through swamp with cypress, magnolia, pine, sweet gum and other soft woods. Mistletoe grows in great profusion from the tree tops, usually planted by birds. While we kiss under mistletoe at Christmas the berries are beautiful but poisonous.
We saw a huge flock of over 400 Tundra Swans on the other side of Lake Drummond. Too far to photograph but great to see them here in winter.
We headed south-east to Knott's Island, NC to my niece Ashleigh's house with her husband Cabe and our great-nephew Noah. The day was getting away from us and the clouds getting thicker. Winding country roads took us into North Carolina, then Virginia, and back into North Carolina. On the way we stopped at Blackwater Trading Post on the Blackwater River.
They cook up locally caught catfish. While waiting for our order, we saw a display of dozens of rattles collected from Canebreak Rattlesnakes years ago.
The folks who work there told us that they regularly see venomous snakes like Water Moccasins and Copperheads and the occasional Canebreak Rattlesnake. The place has an outdoor eating area. We ate indoors.
We arrived at Knotts Island late in the day. The clouds had set in and the breeze coming off the Currituck Sound was a little brisk. Little did we know that the best bird we would see all day was in the camellia bush outside of Ashleigh's kitchen window. Cabe asked "What is that bird with bright yellow?" Dan looked outside and said, "Whoa! That's a Yellow-throated Warbler." I blurted out a laugh and so arrogantly said, "I don't think so. Not at this time of year." I was so happy to be dead wrong.
This bird really shouldn't be here but he was pecking away at the camellia flowers searching for any insects. It is rare to see them this far north in mid-February. What a total thrill and great way to begin our week of birding!
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