Hollow Rock Nature Park Birding
We add some gorgeous birds to our life list in this small gem of Durham's Hollow Rock Nature Park.
Hollow Rock Nature Park is a small Durham gem💎 . It connects to trails leading to New Hope Creek, which I've written about before, as well as into Duke Forest. There is a cool, but sometimes sketchy, crossing under the bridge to avoid crossing the road. The signs say DO NOT CROSS THE ROAD, and I believe it.
Jason Burns
My favorite spot is pretty close to the parking lot without ever having to cross under bridge or over road. There is a marshy area full of dead and downed trees that is a playground for birds and woodpeckers.
Kat and I saw a gorgeous Red-headed Woodpecker flitting around from tree to tree and making his strange calls. Seeing its shockingly red head made us pause and watch for a good 15 minutes. Live photos captured some memorable moments of this bird diving directly off a tree, head down and tail up, before whipping out stunning white-banded wings 🪽 to pull into an upward arc flying off over the swamp.
My birding life list got a bit longer thanks to that.
Merlin BirdID told me there was also a Pileated Woodpecker and a Northern Flicker thanks to sound identification. I did see the telltale pterodactyl shape of a Pileated flying in the distance, but not well enough to add it. A return trip is needed.
The biggest entertainment came from the smallest bird. Kat identified a Golden-crowned Kinglet after watching this little hyperactive hopper and spotting the bright yellow mohawk!
