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Snowberry Clearwing Moth CatterpillarDennis Burnette
Caterpillars Count! Assessing Sources of Bird Food Using Citizen Science
Who: Dr. Allen Hurlbert, Associate Professor of Biology, UNC Chapel Hill
What: March Program
When: 7 p.m., Thursday March. 9, 2017
Where: Kathleen Clay Edwards Family (KCEF) Branch Library, in Price Park, 1420 Price Park Drive, Greensboro,
Birdwatchers (aka citizen scientists!) contribute millions of observations each month on the diversity, and abundance of bird species throughout North America and around the world.
These data have allowed scientists an unprecedented understanding of geographic and seasonal patterns of movement and distribution of birds. One of the environmental challenges facing migratory birds in particular is a shift in the seasonal timing of spring and the pulse of arthropod food resources that birds depend on for successfully raising their young. However, there is little information about the availability and seasonal timing of bird food, especially over broad geographic scales.
In this talk Dr. Hurlbert will introduce a new citizen science project called Caterpillars Count! that aims to enlist interested participants in characterizing the seasonal timing of food availability for foliage gleaning birds. He will describe how to participate, and summarize results found to date based on data collection in central North Carolina.
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Enjoy a Walk on Our Own Audubon Natural Area
What: Second Sunday Nature Walk
When: 2 p.m., Sunday, March 12
Where: Audubon Natural Area, Tankersley Drive behind Cone Hospital, Greensboro
Carpooling: Meet at 1:45 p.m. in front of Whole Foods parking lot (beneath the Sears sign that faces Friendly Avenue near the BB&T)
 Please join us as we explore the Audubon Natural Area on Sunday, March 12.
We'll take a leisurely stroll around the quarter-mile Hillmer Nature Trail. We'll look and listen for a variety of birds that frequent the area. Recently, a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks and a single Red-tailed hawk were all noisily cruising the air space above the area.
We'll view and discuss plants, both native and invasive. We'll also walk the open meadow area and edges toward the front of the property, and see what might be growing or moving about.
In addition to critter activity, we'll also discuss current activity at the site, both present and planned, by the elusive "Auduboner." "Natural" doesn't mean "unmanaged" in this case. Efforts are ongoing to keep the site clean and natural, increase its accessibility, and to making it more of a learning experience for visitors.
The Audubon Natural Area is located along Tankersley Drive behind Cone Hospital, between Elm and Church streets. Parking is available by jumping the curb and parking in the mowed area at the entrance, or by parking at the bank at the corner of Tankersley and Church streets and walking in from there.
As usual, we'll meet at 1:45 for a 2 p.m. departure from the Whole Foods parking lot along Friendly Avenue (beneath the Sears sign that faces Friendly Avenue near BB&T). We'll spend an hour or two at the area. And as always, let's carpool from there.
Photo of beaver damage to tree at the ANA (above) by Jim Eldrett
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But First, Enjoy a Little Spring Trail Maintenance at the Site
You can preview the Second Sunday Nature Walk at the Audubon Natural Area and do some good for the trail there, too, by joining us for an hour or two beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 4, as we do a little spring trail maintenance on the Tom Hillmer Memorial Nature Trail.
We need to widen a couple of areas on the back portion of the trail where growth has gradually encroached. This will allow us to maintain the width of the trail with a mower for the rest of the growing season. Sturdy shoes, gloves, and tick repellent are advised.
Bring loppers, choppers, saws, scythes, machetes, samuri swords; whatever you got. Safari hats optional.
We'll meet at the Audubon Natural Area on Tankersly Drive, behind Cone Hospital. You may jump the curb and park in the grass, or park at the bank at Church and Tankersley and walk the half block from there.
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Bloodroot (left) and Dimpled Trout Lily/
Ann Walter Fromson
Wednesday Wildflower Walks Planned March 15, 29
Naturalist Ann Walter-Fromson will be leading a series of Wednesday morning wildflower walks at area parks, preserves, and watershed trails again this year.
You’re welcome to join in for any or all of these walks. Our first walk will be held March 15 at Northeast Park. We will start on the Buffalo Creek Trail in search of Trout Lily and Spring Beauty, return to the Low Water Crossing area, then head a short way along the Reedy Overlook Trail to look for wildflowers in the bottomland forest. This will entail about 3 miles of walking; Buffalo Creek Trail is moderately hilly.
On March 29 we will walk on the western end of Townsend Trail. We will begin at the Yanceyville Street trailhead and walk about a mile east, looking for Bloodroot and Hepatica. Be prepared for about 2.5 miles of walking on a moderately hilly trail.
Participants should wear sturdy, closed-toe walking shoes as trails may be muddy or slippery in places, and many have exposed roots. Close-focus binoculars and a wildflower field guide would be helpful to have with you, as well as a walking stick, insect repellant (if the weather is warm), a camera, water, and a snack. No pets, please.
We will meet for each trip at 9:30 a.m. in the Whole Foods parking lot at the end closest to Friendly Avenue between BB&T and Chick-fil-A. Those who wish may carpool to our field trip site. We expect to return between 12:30 and 1 p.m., depending on the trip location. Please contact the trip leader at annwf7@gmail.com if you are meeting us at the trail site instead of at Friendly Shopping Center.
Mark your calendars for additional wildflower walks on April 5, 12, 19, and 26. Be sure to check next month’s Nature Notes for information about our destinations for these walks.
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And Another Great Opportunity at the ANA!
Come one! Come all! If you've run out of things to clean at home, or, if you'd just like a warm up for spring cleaning, please join us for the Great American Clean Up at the Audubon Natural Area on April 1 at 9:30 a.m.
 You'll be joining other like-minded folks from Audubon and the community to spruce up the area.
We'll head off in small groups to divide and conquer different sections of the area. Trash bags will be provided. Wear sturdy gloves and shoes, and use tick repellent liberally. You will also find long-handled trash grabbers or a broom handle/stick with a nail great for picking up items without having to bend over very far.
Stay as long as you like, but you will not be "supervised" beyond 11:30. We'll try to wrap things up by then so that we can transport our haul and score some free pizza and water at the city’s gathering place.
Jim Eldrett, Audubon Natural Area steward, will also have cold water available at the site. Much appreciated would be someone with a pickup to haul the treasure to the central collecting area. Many hands always make light work.
If you have any specific questions or concerns, feel free to contact Jim directly at jimeldrett@gmail.com. Otherwise, RSVP not required; we'll see you there.
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 Bushhog at the ANA/Jim Eldrett
Meadow Maintenance Begins at Audubon Natural Area
A City of Greensboro Parks & Recreation crew has bush-hogged much of the meadow portion of our chapter’s Audubon Natural Area (ANA).
Jim Eldrett, the volunteer ANA steward for TGPAS, was on hand to guide the crew. At about the same time, TGPAS member Deborah Staves continued working in the adjacent ANA wooded area to install small signs to identify trees and other plants.
All of this activity is part of an on-going commitment of our chapter to be good stewards of this 11-acre natural oasis in the midst of suburban Greensboro. Although the ANA is an official City park, it is on land owned by the Cone Health system and is part of the Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital campus.
The City of Greensboro leased the site from Cone as a "natural park" for 99 years. TGPAS subsequently entered into an open-ended management agreement with the city in the late 1970s to be the steward of this “natural” city park. It is located on the north side of Tankersley Drive between North Elm and Church streets behind the hospital. High-voltage power lines and North Buffalo Creek traverse the site. Both meadows and woodlands are found here.
TGPAS has built short walking trails, installed several benches, put up bird nesting boxes, and planted native wildflowers in the ANA. During the growing season our chapter mows the Tom Hillmer Trail and the Meadow Path, trims back branches and blackberry bushes, and controls poison ivy. We also hold occasional trail maintenance days when we outline the trails with fallen limbs. Twice a year we do street and stream clean ups to remove trash.
We had an invasive plant removal session last fall and plan another this spring. Much of this we can handle ourselves. However, the recent discovery of Kudzu and Oriental bitterseweet vines may require us to hire a professional to get ahead of these noxious invasive plants.
We work closely with Greensboro Parks & Recreation and Field Operations Departments when maintenance beyond our capability is needed, such as the bush-hogging of the meadow near the entrance which occurred in February.
From time to time our chapter uses the ANA for birding field trips and as a site for workshops on plant identification. We understand that an extension of the North Buffalo Creek Greenway is planned to run through the ANA within the next few years.
We hope that the Greenway will bring more extensive use of our natural park and allow us to do more environmental education there. In the meantime, we will continue our stewardship efforts to make the Audubon Natural Area a great place to visit.
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Cold Birders/Lynn AllisonWaterfowl Field Trip Report
We had a fun field trip on Saturday, Jan. 28, on our winter waterfowl search. It was a cold but sunny morning under a Carolina blue sky.
Our first stop was at the dam end of Buffalo Lake on St. Jude Street just off East Cone Boulevard where we saw a huge conglomeration of mostly Double-crested Cormorants and Ring-billed Gulls perched on a pier-like structure behind the old, closed restaurant. 
The birds were so close that even before setting up some scopes, we got good views of the plumage variations. Ducks were scarce here, however, with only a Ruddy Duck close enough for us to watch. We also saw a Great Blue Heron on the north shore and a few Canada Geese, both species of which we would see several times later.
Throughout the morning we made stops at lake and marsh overlooks for Lake Brandt, Lake Townsend, and some smaller bodies of water along Church Street, Plainfield Road, Yanceyville Street, Doggett Road, Lake Brandt Road, and Trosper Road.
At one spot along the way we pulled over to watch a cleanup crew of half a dozen Black Vultures working on an unidentified “road pancake.” It would be hard to get better close up views of this species. On our return through the same intersection later, the number of vultures had doubled, and they had managed to pull their meal off the road so that they weren’t as disturbed by passing traffic.
In general, waterfowl were rather sparse. Several folks speculated that perhaps winter weather further north of us hasn't been harsh enough to push migratory species this far south. Surprisingly, the largest number of birds we saw in the waterfowl category in most of the open water areas were Pied-billed Grebes.
Several people especially wanted to see Wood Ducks. We finally found some in the Plainfield Road marsh, along with a few Northern Shovelers. We were happy to see a Red-headed Woodpecker while we were watching the ducks. In fact, we saw quite a few common winter land-bird species as we paused at the various stops.
We finished the waterfowl tour at Trosper Pond. Not only did we see a large number of waterfowl here, but we got to do some positive public relations for birders with two different nearby residents who stopped to visit with us. They were interested in what we were seeing on their pond. We assured them that we were trying to stay out of the way of traffic and be good stewards by not trespassing, and they both indicated that we were welcome in their neighborhood.
In Trosper Pond we saw Hooded Mergansers and Buffleheads among the Mallards, Canada Geese, and introduced European Mute Swans and Muscovy Ducks. The best duck sighting on Trosper Pond, however, was a pair male and female American Black Ducks (plus a single) associating with the resident Mallards, which gave us several opportunities to compare plumage and sharpen our identification skills.
We had a great group of congenial folks on this beautiful winter morning of fun birding.
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Great Links for Native Plants and Gardening
 National Audubon has great ways for you and others to create gardens that help birds thrive throughout North Carolina and beyond.
Please check out this list and share anything you like. This is a great place to start, because when you enter your zip code you will see a list of plants and info on your local Audubon chapter and what native-plant services we provide.
Reach out with any questions, and on behalf of the birds, thank you!
PLANT LISTS
WEB PAGES
PLANT PROFILES
VIDEOS TO SHARE
GARDEN SIGN
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jects? That’s up to you! We will consider Audubon members’ photos of just about any natural subject that occurs in the Triad. Use your imagination and creativity…birds, butterflies, mammals, wildflowers and anything else that will be eye-catching, pleasing and identifiable in a small photo.
