I visited Bear Creek Lake SP in Cumberland County this morning. Storm damage
there was minimal although the Lakeside Trail was flooded just beyond the end
of the boardwalk. I walked the Channel Cat Trail instead. Pretty quiet with
only 15 species, highlights being two immature Scarlet Tanagers making the
"chip" portion of the "chip-burr" call, and an immature Pileated Woodpecker
working on a dead branch of a big pine. The biggest surprise was an immature
YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON roosting on a downed tree in the water at the edge
of the lake across from the boat rental dock. I have always thought of them as
a more coastal species but, according to the Birds of South Central Piedmont,
they are actually more common than Black-crowned in that part of the state.
Wendy Ealding
Powhatan County
