Ocmulgee Audubon field trip to the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge

Ten members of our Ocmulgee Audubon chapter went to the Piedmont NR for one of our monthly field trips this past Saturday.

This field was unique in some regards.  Instead of our normal birds observation and tally, we spent the time appreciating birds, butterflies, wildflowers, and dragonflies.

 The Refuge contains 36,000 acres (according to one of the brochures) and we only checked a small portion of it.  It's a usual site for yearly butterfly counts, and many birders spend time there regularly.

 
We've submitted two checklists from our field trip with an observation of 42 different bird species in one location, Pond 2-A, and 61 species for the other portion of the Piedmont.  Some species are on both checklists.

Highlights include Northern Bobwhites calling, Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, Bachman's Sparrows, Red-spotted Purple (butterfly), various skippers and swallowtails (more butterflies).  Noteworthy was also a female Orchard Oriole going back and forth to her nest, feeding her young and removing sacs from the nest.  Her trips were quick as the male was in the field giving her food to carry back to the nest.

Orchard Oriole's nest

We were privileged to have some great birders in the group, Paul Johnson, Jerry Amerson, Trey McCuen, and some people familiar with their butterflies and wildflowers, Jim Gilreath, Paul Hoinowski, Jerry again, and Joe and Jane Mangum.

Beside our birding stop at Pond 2A, we made other stops at creeks, fords, a pond formerly known as the "children's pond", Falling Creek with the large rocks, and Lake Allisson where we saw a Broad-winged Hawk carrying a snake.  We were rewarded at each stop with the sight of wildflowers, pretty butterflies, Summer Tanagers interacting with their fledglings, pretty birds with yellow as in the Prairie Warblers, American Goldfinches, Yellow-throated Warblers, birds with blue as in the Indigo Buntings and Blue Grosbeaks.

It turned out to be a great field trip in pleasant weather.  Looking forward to the next one!

Jim Gilreath has provided several of the pictures for this post.  The pictures without a name on them are from me, Andre Coquerel.
Comments are welcome.

Ocmulgee Audubon Field Trip to the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge

Jerry Payne, Bill Flatau, Anne Armstrong, and Paul Hoinowski

Our May field trip took us to the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge.  A unique place to see the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (on the "Endangered" list) and the Bachman Sparrows.

The above picture shows, among others, Jerry Payne.  As a quick disclosure, he was not on the field trip with us but we ran into him in the refuge.  He is legend and he just organized a "butterfly count" the day before our field trip.  And there he was, already out in the field, birding.  We were happy to see him!

Red-cockaded Woodpecker.  Courtesy Lynn Rivenbark

  We were eleven birders in the group.  We spent the first part of the trip at Pond 2A where we picked up the most birds including Tree Swallows nesting in tree cavities, Bachman Sparrows, Prairie Warblers singing their heart out, Northern Bobwhites calling loud and clear, Yellow-throated Warblers, and many more.

Bachman Sparrow.  Courtesy Lynn Rivenbark

The last two pictures, the Red-cockaded and the Bachman, were seen and appreciated toward the end of our field trip in an area marked for "Red-cockaded Colonies".  (Also seen earlier at Pond 2A). Matt Esterline recommended that spot and I'm glad we made it our last spot as we enjoyed some of the birds seen at a much closer range...Red-cockaded and Bachman in trees 15 feet from us at almost eye level.

Yellow-throated Warbler.  Picture by Lynn Rivenbark.

At one point, we enjoyed an Osprey circling over Pond 2A.  One of our "birding moments".  Anne Armstrong has a recording of this on our Facebook Page.  Check it out!

Black-and-white Warbler.  Picture by Lynn Rivenbark.

Before we knew it, the time has passed and we had to leave this beautiful place.  We drove through creek fords, lingered by a nice pond, walk a path by wooded areas, saw butterflies, ran into nice folks, enjoyed birds you don't see in your backyards.  If you missed any of this, just join us on our next outing.
Our newsletters are posted on this site and they have our scheduled field trips.