North Carolina county #96 Riverbend Park
My second stop this week was Riverbend Park in Catawba County. I was going to walk a trail, but there was a parking area down near the river that I got sidetracked by. After spending a bunch of time there I felt a bit too tired to start hiking again so I ended up going home early. The view by the river was engaging.
There are picnic benches and areas to fish along the wooded bank of the Catawba River here. Just across from where I spent most of my time, there were a group of Double-crested Cormorants hanging out.
The location is just downriver of the dam, which is pretty impressive up close.
That overpass in the photo is how I reached the park and it gave a great closeup view of the dam. I only saw one other couple there while I was there, but there were a good number of cars parked closer to the entrance where the trailheads were. As I pulled up, a Belted Kingfisher flew off, and there were a number of Carolina Chickadees and Yellow-rumped Warblers in the trees.
Even though they are very common, it’s actually difficult to get a decent photo of a chickadee in the woods. They are always moving around. This one came into the sun and was trying to eat something on the birch tree, so gave me some time to get some photos.
This is a nice spot and you can see quite a way up the river. It was only about five miles away on the same river that I saw a Brown Booby last year, so you never know what could be there. If I was local I would check back regularly.
ebird checklist