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The Birds of Chapel Hill (Part One)
by Charly Mann
Much of the beauty of Chapel Hill many of us take for granted. It is easy to see and experience it if you simply go outside and walk through the surrounding woods and fields. Since I was five I have enjoyed an amazing joy and clarity when I am closely observing the bounties of beauty and the marvels of creation in our forests, along our creeks, and in nearby pastures. I have especially loved the birds I encounter on trees, fences, or on the ground. Over many decades I have become familiar with the seasonal habitats of a great variety of our feathered friends, and have learned how to get very close to many of them. For the past several years I have taken a camera with me on my walks so that I can photograph some of my favorite birds. This is the fist in a series of photographs of Chapel Hill birds that I have taken in the last three years.
Two baby Eastern Kingbirds (Summer of 2008)
Brown Thrasher Close-Up
Grey Catbird (Spring 2009)
American Golden Finch (Spring 2008)
Ruby-throated hummingbird (Sring 2009) - I captured this fellow at dusk with a professional flash.
Comments:
Art Simon
9:56 AM Tue 5/19/2009
I have lived in Chapel Hill for more than thirty years and don't believe I've ever seen an Eastern Kingbird there. These guys are adorable. Can you share where you found these birds?
Randy Stewart
8:41 PM Mon 5/18/2009
I have never been to Chapel Hill, but this looks like a great place to photograph birds.
Jack Williams
1:05 PM Mon 5/18/2009
Your photos are incredible. What kind of camera are you using?
Jack Williams
1:05 PM Mon 5/18/2009
Your photos are incredible. What kind of camera are you using?
Chapel Hill is located on a hill whose only distinguishing feature in the 18th century was a small chapel on top called New Hope Chapel. This church was built in 1752 and is currently the location of The Carolina Inn. The town was founded in 1819, and chartered in 1851.
What is it that binds us to this place as to no other? It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls. or the crisp October nights. No, our love for this place is based upon the fact that it is as it was meant to be, The University of the People.
-- Charles Kuralt
Dark Side of the Hill -- Pink Floyd, the creators of the most popular album in history, Dark Side of the Moon, took the second half of their name from Floyd Council, a Chapel Hill native, and great blues singer and guitarist. He once belonged to a group called "The Chapel Hillbillies".
Check out Charly Mann's other website:
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
There would probably be no Chapel Hill if the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees in 1793 had not chosen land across from New Hope Chapel for the location of the university. By 1800 there were about 100 people living in thirty houses surrounding the campus.
The University North Carolina's first student was Hinton James, who enrolled in February, 1795. There is now a dormitory on the campus named in his honor.
The University of North Carolina was closed from 1870 to 1875 because of lack of state funding.
William Ackland left his art collection and $1.25 million to Duke University in 1940 on the condition that he would be buried in the art museum that the University was to build with his bequest. Duke rejected this condition even though members of the Duke Family are buried in Duke Chapel. What followed was a long and acrimonious legal battle between Ackland relatives who now wanted the inheritance, Rollins College, and the University of North Carolina, each attempting to receive the funds. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, and in 1949 UNC was awarded the money for the museum. Ackland is buried near the museum's entrance. When the museum first opened, in the early sixties, there were rumors that his remains were leaking out of the mausoleum.
The official name of the Arboretum on the University of North Carolina campus is the Coker Arboretum. It is named after Dr. William Cocker, the University's first botany professor. It occupies a little more than five acres. It was founded in 1903.
Chapel Hill's main street has always been called Franklin Street. It was named after Benjamin Franklin in the early 1790s.
Chapel Hill High School and Chapel Hill Junior High were on Franklin Street in the same location as University Square until the mid 1960s.
The Colonial Drug Store at 450 West Franklin Street was owned and operated by John Carswell. It was famous for a fresh-squeezed carbonated orange beverage called a "Big O". In the early 1970s, I managed the Record and Tape Center next door, and must have had over 100 of those drinks. The Colonial Drug Store closed in 1996.
Sutton's Drugstore, which opened in 1923, has one of the last soda fountains in the South. It is one of the few businesses remaining on Franklin Street that was in operation when I was growing up in the 1950s.
Future President Gerald Ford lived in Chapel Hill twice. First when he was 24, in 1938, he took a law couse in summer school at UNC. He lived in the Carr Building, which was a law school dormitory. At the same time, Richard Nixon, the man he served under as Vice President, was attending law school at Duke. In 1942, Ford returned to Chapel Hill to attend the U.S. Navy's Pre-Flight School training program. He lived in a rental house on Hidden Hills Drive.
That is the best hummingbird photo I've ever seen. Thank's for sharing.