Yellow-Crowned Night Herons at Sandy Creek Park, Durham NC
Have you stopped by Sandy Creek Park in Durham, NC yet? If you're living in (or visiting) the NC triangle and you haven't discovered this birdwatching gem yet, I highly recommend checking it out.
As an artist and a wildlife lover, I'm constantly traveling around the southeast and taking photos to use as reference images for the block-prints I create. However, I had yet to stop by Sandy Creek park, despite it being only about 20 minutes from my house. This spring, I was finally lured out to this birdwatching hot-spot by rumors of some Yellow-Crowned Night Herons nesting there.
Y'all, this place is AMAZING. It's basically a huge wetland, constructed at the location of an old wastewater treatment plant. The craziest part is the location. It's right off of 15-501, a place I drive by all the time for errands, doctors appointments, etc... All this time, I never realized there was incredible wildlife just around the corner.
Above: The wetland plays host to several beaver lodges, and this Night Heron decided that it was a great spot to catch some sun.
When I first arrived at the Park with my camera and my daughter Millie in tow, I was wandering around, wondering where I could find these birds. Fortunately, I ran into Catherine Kramer, a fellow artist and colleague through the Orange County Artist's Guild. (Click here to see her exquisite work.) She helped us spot these birds, and gave us a layout of the park, since we were newbies.
Above: Yellow-Crowned Night Herons are crustacean specialists. In coastal regions, they eat crabs. Here in the piedmont, they are crawdad ASSASSINS. It was so fun to watch them hunt.
Above: I was obviously pretty focused on Night Herons during this visit, but there was tons of other wildlife to enjoy as well.
Above: Sandy Creek also has some lovely biking trails as well. I've been back several times and we discovered it's a great place to take the kids. This photo is of my son and nephew, who loved riding through mud puddles. (Pro-tip, bring a towel for the car ride home :)
Above: The wetland is rimed by one of my favorite trees- our native black willow (Salix nigra). This tree is a host plant for several showiest butterflies, including the Viceroy, Mourning Cloak, and Red Spotted Purple Butterflies.
Above: Here are the two finished pieces I created based on this visit. Of course I had to include some Crawdads for my Night Herons to eat!
I hope y'all are able to make it out to Sandy Creek Park. I know it's a place I'll go back to again and again, so maybe we'll bump into each other out there.
Resources from this blog post:
Friends and Neighbors of Sandy Creek Park- This website has a handy trails map as well as lists of the native plants and animals that can be found in this location.
Birding opportunities in Durham, NC- The New Hope Bird Alliance is a wonderful resource if you want to learn more about birds in our area.
To see more of my work you can order prints from my website, see process videos on my instagram, and order wallpaper from my spoonflower shop. All of my pieces are inspired by the Southeastern US.