Bird's-Eye View: Davidson park offers great birding opportunities

Dappled sunlight played on the forest floor. A slight breeze in the trees made spots of light filtering through the leaves move across the fronds of bracken, Christmas, and maiden-hair ferns. A tiny bird hopped on the stump of a tuliptree. It paused just long enough for us to get our binoculars fixed on it. Then it flitted away to scurry under the trunk of a fallen tree. It was a brief look, but the bird's size, short, upturned tail and vermiculated plumage were enough to give away its identity as a Winter Wren.

We were touring Boone's Cave Park in Davidson County, about 25 miles south of Winston-Salem. Shelia Zuccaro, an outdoor-recreation specialist, was taking us around to a couple of her favorite places. Chief among these is a 40-acre wooded valley filled with intriguing plant life. We were able to recognize, even in their midautumn dress, many wildflowers and shrubs. Wild ginger, jack-in-the-pulpit, foamflower, bloodroot, mountain laurel, rhododendron and others were in abundance.

Varied plant life attracts birds

The park is home to a number of interesting trees as well. In addition to a wide variety of oaks, maples, beech and the abundant mockernut hickory, the less common shagbark hickory is found here, as is a huge Eastern cottonwood that is listed among the state's champion trees and stands more 150 feet tall and 5 feet in diameter.

This diverse plant life is fascinating, and it is what attracts an abundance of animal life. On this fall day, all kinds of mast were available, from acorns, hickory nuts, and the fruits of sweet and black gum to wild grapes and drying berries of polk weed. A flock of robins was feasting on dogwood berries, while bluebirds were foraging on the berries of poison-ivy vines in the treetops.

The voice of a Pileated Woodpecker greeted our arrival at the park entrance. The boundary of the park is a half-mile down Boone's Cave Road. Dense growth of 20-foot trees lines both sides of the road, where both Golden-Crowned and Ruby-Crowned Kinglets searched for insects. As we were greeting Sheila, an Eastern phoebe perched on the power line overhead, its persistent tail-bobbing a familiar clue to its identity.

Boone's Cave Park was established as a gift to the state from the Daniel Boone Historical Society in 1909. At 100 acres, it was the smallest in the state's park system, and it was rather neglected until ownership was transferred to Davidson County in 2003. The park's name comes from a legend that says that Daniel Boone hid from Indians in a shallow cave in a bluff that overlooks the Yadkin River. Just a few yards downstream from the cave, exposed rock slopes to the river's edge and provides a launch for canoes, a place to dangle your toes in the river in summertime or to look for Kingfishers and Great Blue Herons most any season.

As you leave the park, follow Boone's Cave Park Road back to Churchland at N.C. 150. Just a few miles south, this road intersects with Interstate 85 where they both cross the Yadkin River as it flows into the north end of High Rock Lake. Just before that point, watch for signs leading to the York Hill boating access to the river. From the boat launch area, you can scan the river for herons, egrets, waterfowl, warblers and woodpeckers. In spring, summer and early fall, you may find rough-winged and barn swallows, and -- uncommon in this area -- cliff swallows.

Just to the right of the boat launch is a large slough, which can be a good place to find waders, shorebirds and waterfowl. On this day, seven great blue herons, six killdeer and a couple of pied-billed grebes were in residence. In July, several Great Egrets and two juvenile Little Blue Herons spent several days here, dispersed from their breeding colonies near the coast. Most unusual were two wood storks -- possibly the first ever documented in Davidson County.

Park hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday; 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.

For more information, go to www.co.davidson.nc.us/leisure/BoonesCavePark.aspx.

■ Bird's-Eye View is a joint column by Ron Morris and Phil Dickinson. Today's column was written by Morris. Morris retired after 24 years as curator at the N.C. Zoo. He has studied birds around the world and is currently the vice president of the Audubon Society of Forsyth County. Dickinson is a legal writer. He has been an active birder for 15 years, and is a past president of the Audubon Society of Forsyth County and heads the conservation committee. If you have a birding question or story idea, write to Bird's-Eye View in care of Features, Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101-3159, or send an e-mail to birding@wsjournal.com. Please type "birds" in the subject line.

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