A TRIP TO CASWELL GAME LAND
by Phyllis Shaw
A scouting expedition to Caswell Gameland on September 30 featured only a
few birds actually sighted but provided other delights from a day of
Carolina blue skies and inviting trails. Our star attraction was a Rough
Green Snake, deceptively stretched among green leaves of a shoulder-level
tree. Somewhat reluctantly, it posed for photographs. Our star avian acrobat, a daring Eastern Wood-pewee, teased us as it swooped repeatedly toward its vertical perch in an open field. An intrepid Red-tailed Hawk gave the feather to the rude crows chasing it. As we rambled down the dirt road past that field, we encountered sights or sounds of a Tufted Titmouse, a Carolina Chickadee, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, and both Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers.
Time constraints and curiosity shortened the scouting part of our trip and pointed us toward a nearby waterfowl impoundment. On the way, we spotted an Eastern Meadowlark and later an American Kestrel sitting on phone wires by the road. On our walk into the impoundment, an Eastern Box Turtle and delicate butterflies-a Pearl Crescent, Eastern Tailed Blue, and a Monarch welcomed us. Some of us even saw two deer quietly eyeing us from the ridge as they melted into the trees.
We were dismayed to find no water at the impoundment area-a stark commentary on the severity of our drought and a cause for great concern for the welfare of creatures who depend upon that source of water. On our short walk back from the impoundment, we paused for lunch and photographs of splendid chicken mushrooms stretched deliciously along a host log.
Though short on serious scouting, our expedition was filled with the quiet wonders of an early fall day. As Wordsworth wrote, “Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.”
Rough Green Snake Photos by Deirdre Poe