Five hardy souls walked the UNC nature trail early Saturday morning, although the temperature hovered around 22 degrees. We entered the Carolina North Nature Trail, a pleasant woodland trail accessed from Rock Garden Road. We were rewarded with the find of the day, a Golden Crowned Kinglet.
Golden Crested Kinglet
This little bird darted back and forth finding bugs in the curled leaves.
Golden Crowned Kinglet
We were interrupted once by 20 runners running past us on the trail. Great the runners are getting out too, but these trails were built by UNC for walking and bird watching. We saw no more birds and doubled back on the other trail.
Cynthia Fox of Wild Bird Store
Cynthia pointed out this magnificent pine with the tell tale holes of the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. In the picture below photographer Mary Sonis captures a picture of him on another day.
Yellow Belied Sapsucker