Local Birding and the Death of a Best Friend (20-26Sep2023)

September is my favorite month of the year.  The temperature starts to cool down, the waves are usually good and the migration is getting into full swing.  I have been visiting my usual fall migration hotspot of Burnt Mill Creek (BMC) but lately Airlie Gardens has been really good.

Chimney Swift - a cigar with wings.

Eastern Kingbirds have flying through in huge numbers.

A female Black-throated Blue.

Every live oak at Airlie seems to have a couple American Redstarts.

I found this Blue-winged Warbler at Airlie and it stuck around for over a week with many people seeing it.

Here it is the next day in almost the same spot.

Prairie Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

American Redstart with a snack.

Yellow Warbler

Meanwhile, at Carolina Beach Lake, a big pink bird has been hanging out.....

No, unfortunately not a Flamingo, but a Roseate Spoonbill.

A bedraggled Black Skimmer has also been scooping up fish in the sludge that is CB Lake.

Oddly enough, the Roseate Spoonbill didn't trip the rare flag but this late young Least Tern did.

Tricolored Heron - CB Lake is probably the best place in Wilmington to shoot herons at close range.

This time of year all the Yellow-crowned Night-herons have post breeding dispersal which usually is evident in the marshes around Fort Fisher.  These were at the Aquarium pond.

Fort Fisher is also home to one of the closest things North Carolina has to a point break with the waves off the gazebo rocks.

This particular day was small which is why I didn't even bother to bring my board, but you can see that it gets crowded.

Back at Airlie another day, another Prairie Warbler.

One of these days I will find a Gray Heron, but until then here is another Great Blue Heron.

American Redstart

This Hooded Warbler was hanging around Burnt Mill Creek for several days.

Northern Parula

Nashville Warbler!  BMC seems to be good for 1-2 Nashvilles every fall now.

Presumed Acadian Flycatcher

GBH

A young White-eyed Vireo

The Hooded Warbler was still around several days later.

This young Acadian Flycatcher was vocalizing and Merlin confirmed ID.  Merlin sound ID should always be taken with a grain of salt, but it is a good tool for confirming what you already have come to based on visual factors.

One evening I had to go pick up George at WB for his sailing practice, so I decided to take a walk on the North end of the beach first.

Western Sandpiper

Then as I was scanning the gull and tern evening roost, I saw one gull that looked different.

I immediately thought Franklin's Gull but it was nice a slam dunk because it was a young first year bird and did not have the adult white wing markings that make it easy to ID.  Some Laughing Gulls can get a dark hood, so it was necessary to look more closely for the ID.

The nape contrasts nicely with the hood and mantle.  On a young Laughing it would be more uniform.

Although the wings did not have the white crescents in the wings that an adult would, it showed some hint of it.

The bill was a little more petite than that of a Laughing Gull.

The under-wings were relatively white compared to Laughing Gull.

The tail band is relatively neat.  Laughing Gulls with tail bands are usually messy, not straight across.

He/she was relatively smaller compared to the nearby Laughing Gulls, although this was negligible on its own.

One interesting field mark is that Franklin's Gulls will sometimes show some pink in the legs which this one did.

Regarding the black band in the tail, although it is neat, it does not extend to the other most tail feathers which is another confirmatory field mark.

This Sandwich Tern was kind of interesting.  I have never seen one with a pink bill.  I suppose young birds can have them, but not in that pattern.

Marbled Godwit

Whimbrel

I know Common Terns can have dark carpal bars, but this one was ridiculously dark.

The Forster's Terns are starting to get their Pirate patches.

Meanwhile, we had been loving on our dog Paco as much as possible as he had been struggling as of late with debilitating arthritis which made it painful for him to walk.  We have been feeding him people food for the past couple of months and giving him tons of treats to make his last days as pleasurable as possible.

Well last week was finally the time to say goodbye as he could hardly stand sometimes and clearly was not  enjoying life anymore.  We all took the day off from work and school and had a vet come and euthanize him at home.  A very tough decision to make, but I think it was the right one.  

He was one of my best friends and certainly my most loyal.  We had him for almost 14 years which is about as long as a Whippet can live.  He got into trouble sometimes, as evidenced from the scar under his eye (I can't remember if it was from a squirrel or a fence), but overall he was an awesome dog.  He never barked, he was always friendly to people and other dogs and he loved to play frisbee.  He loved eating mole crickets in the back yard and also my lantana bushes among other plants.  I spend a ton of time tinkering in the yard and Paco was always game to spend his time with me while I worked.

Here he is back when he was a pup and I still had some hair.

Ever since Rosa (his doggie sister) died, we have been carrying him up the stairs to sleep in George's bed.   

He will be sorely missed.  I buried him next to Rosa and Ruby in the back yard.  Ruby has a Live Oak, Rosa a Red Cedar and Paco an Arrow Wood Viburnum.   

RIP Paco, we love you!