North Carolina county #54 Northampton Nature Trail
Next to a town administrative building in Northampton County is the Northampton Nature Trail. With a name like that you would think the whole county is stopping by, but this small, hidden (and somewhat neglected) trail was empty and quiet the whole time I was on it.
This photo is of the end of the trail, which leads to a boardwalk into this pond-like area. It was very nice looking and peaceful, with birds singing. I remember a nice male Common Yellowthroat nearby that wouldn’t let me get a photo of him. The boardwalk just dead ends at the edge of the trees in the photo, and strangely I found this just sitting at the end on the wood.
No sign of any other bones. The path itself was very nice, with several benches marked “FARM BUREAU” on them along the way in sunny spots. There was also a covered picnic area with four tables just before the boardwalk. However, the path seems to be somewhat forgotten. There was a tree growing through one of the tables, the boardwalk was broken in one spot where two trees had fallen and already begun to rot away, and there were a few areas where you could see the edges of the vegetation were starting to creep inward.
I hope the local folk don’t forget about this nice trail because it was very pleasant and enjoyable.
This Ovenbird was very cooperative. I had been hearing Wood Thrushes for a while and thought it was one of those at first but his head stripe is always a give away. I need to remember his “teacher teacher teacher” call also.
This is a nice little spot and really the only decent birding area for some distance as far as I can tell. I would definitely make it one of my often visited patches if I lived in the area.
ebird checklist