Occoneechee August

Lately my birding expeditions have been scrambled affairs. It wasn’t that long ago that I miscalculated the opening time of Occoneechee State Park, leading Noah and me to try our luck (and it wasn’t particularly good luck as regular readers may recall) at nearby Eno River State Park. This time I had planned for a quick morning at Mason Farm, only to find when I got there that the Botanical Gardens, the administrators of the site, had with little warning fixed their two year broken card-activated gate. And me with no card and no means to acquire one at 7:30 am on a Sunday morning, I was on the outside looking in. Incidentally, generally I think the gate is a good thing, it keeps the riff-raff out and puts a little more money in the coffers for management of the preserve, I only would have preferred a little head’s up on the gate scene so I wouldn’t get locked out.

Anywho, another quick change of plans and an opportunity to brings things full circle, as now I could get to Occoneechee Mountain after the gate opens at 8. So, all’s well that ends well.

Occoneechee is the highest point in Orange County, which is really no great shakes as it tops out at just over 300 feet over the river valley, but the pyrophyllite outcropping is a reminder of the region’s geologic history, and the top of the “mountain” is a time capsule from eons past, featuring plant and insect species far removed from their normal Appalachian ranges. In particular, several species of ferns and the Brown Elfin butterfly.

But I wasn’t there for butterflies, or at least not consciously. It was birds that drew my attention, and for the beginning of August the variety was fairly average. By this time of year, and certainly by the time 8 am rolled around, most of the big singers have shut down for the season. But even the hottest, most humis North Carolina summer can dissuade the Red-eyed Vireos. I heard a few, and little else.

The mountain itself is certainly impressive enough once you get around to the north side of it. I would have been far less impressed had I known, as I do now, that the dramatic walls are the remains of an abandoned quarry, and not, as I hoped, dramatic bluffs carved by the Eno River. I can’t help it, back in Missouri the limestone bluffs are always weathered by water. It’s what I grew up knowing and what I nearly always assume when I see dramatic cliffs near a river. Sometimes I forget that things are different, the rocks harder, out here.

As it was my first visit to Occoneechee, the trails were foreign to me. It was not my intention to hike to the top, especially not with a 12 pound baby strapped to my chest. The trail was unrelenting, but ultimately worth it, I suppose, for the view of the Eno River valley and rural Orange County. I suspect the sunsets would be pretty nice here.

In the end the birding was so-so, but I was happy to finally get a look at the place.