Birds are many and varied along Ellerbe Creek and throughout its watershed area. The ECWA is fortunate to number among its members several who are active bird watchers and these pages show the results of their efforts.
Our bird watchers actually keep two separate lists. The Preserve List records and counts the birds in the ECWA "core area" which includes Six Acre Woods, Indian Trail Park, Westover Park, Hillandale Golf Course, or in adjacent neighborhoods within a block or so from the creek. The Watershed List contains a broader population of birds from the entire Ellerbee Creek Watershed area. You can check the ECWA Calendar for the date of the next bird walk.
For an insight into how a bird count is actually conducted read Josh Rose's article "A Durham Christmas Bird Count Along Ellerbe Creek" which chronicles the bird count done on December 17, 2002. The Bird List from that count showed 47 different types of birds along the creek.
The definitions below were used in constructing these bird lists.
Under "Location":
- "Several" means the bird could be seen pretty much anywhere in the watershed.
- "Preserve vicinity " means the Six Acre Woods-Hillandale Golf Course-Westover Park-Indian Trail Park area, plus adjacent neighborhoods within a block or two.
- "Hamlin Road" means specifically the part east of Redwood Road with the big farm fields.
- "Beaver Swamp" means the wetland behind the Avondale Road K-Mart/Big Lots.
- "Lower creek gamelands" are those along the creek just east of Redwood.
Under "Status":
- a "breeder" will be seen mainly April through October, and probably nests in the watershed though not necessarily in the preserve.
- "Winter" birds mostly November through April;
- "Migrant" species April, May, September, and October.
Under "Notes":
- a "flyover" species moves through the watershed, possibly using it as a corridor, but has not been proven to eat, rest, or otherwise stop.
The AOU numbers are just for sorting convenience. AOU stands for the American Ornithologists' Union (http://www.aou.org/); they periodically publish the official list of recognized bird species, based on both the latest birders' reports of vagrants from other places occurring here for the first time, and on biologists' work splitting some species into two or more, or lumping separate species together because they are deemed not different enough from each other.