Christmas Bird Counts (04-05Jan2025)

As long as I am home, I am always game for participating in the yearly Christmas Bird Counts.  Usually New Hanover is on Saturday and Brunswick is on Sunday.  This year was no different.

I was assigned the area west of College Rd from River Lights in the north to Snow's Cut in the south.  So naturally I started with Ashley High School Ponds so I could pick up all the good ducks.  The same ducks were there from earlier in the week, so I will spare you a repeat.

Mallard and American Black Duck.

European Starling

Cedar Waxwing - the American Holly trees lining the parking lots on the east and south side of the school are always chock full of Robins but also waxwings.

My iNaturalist submission for the day was this huge American Mistletoe.  Mistletoe uses over 60 species of tree as a host and is Hemiparasitic.  From Wiki:  "A hemiparasitic plant lives as a parasite under natural conditions, but remains photosynthetic to at least some degree. Hemiparasites may obtain only water and mineral nutrients from the host plant, or many also obtain a part of their organic nutrients from the host."

Mallard - frequently under appreciated. 

Brown-headed Nuthatch

Pine Warbler

Eastern Bluebird

I was just about done with Ashley High School when I got a GroupMe message, Dave H had found a Harlequin Duck at the north end of Carolina Beach at the old pier!  Woohoo, I love a good chase so off I went.

Harlequin Duck!  Easy Peasy, thanks Dave!

White-winged Scoter too!

And a Common Eider!  Three year birds in like 10 seconds.

Since I was there already, I swung by Carolina Beach Lake.

Northern Shoveler - its unusual to have drake shovelers in New Hanover.  I seem to be making a sweep on ducks locally this year.

I got back on my route for the Xmas Bird Count and checked various spots on the way to River Road Park with little action.  But once at the park I picked up a nice year bird.

Blue-headed Vireos are always good to see but especially so when they pose for the camera.

I headed further up in the River Lights Community but the west wind was making the birding slow.

Northern Mockingbird

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Next morning I took the first ferry from Southport to Bald Head Island for the Brunswick County CBC.

Beth from the Bald Head Island Conservancy was gracious enough to accompany Bob and I and actually chauffeur us around the island for the count.

We jetted out towards the point hoping to get a Woodcock on the road but had no luck.

Dawn on the point!  It was freezing but I had layered up pretty good.  I didn't take a ton of photos as the main purpose of the count was to focus on counting.

An Ipswich Savannah Sparrow took in some of the solar rays to warm up on a rich person's roof.

An Ipswich is much lighter in color than the typical Savannah like this one on the right.

An Orange-crowned Warbler pulling out a little morsel from a Sand Live Oak.

You can see the larvae he extracted about to go down the chute.

On to the next meal!  Looks like he moved onto a Southern Live Oak in this pic.  Note the leaves are bit fatter.

This Prairie Warbler was our only "rare" bird being flagged on eBird although they are pretty much expected out here in the winter.  We also had a late Barn Swallow but no pics of that one.

Black-crowned Night-Herons love the water holes around the golf course.

We finished up after lunch and took the next ferry back.  Bob knew of a Eastern Screech Owl that would sun itself in its roost on cold days and this day certainly qualified so the three of us paid it a visit.

What a cutie!  A red morph Eastern Screech Owl.

I had totally forgotten to do my iNaturalist submission for the day so I headed into my yard when I got home and snapped these horrible photos before dark.

iNat would have had a hard time IDing this plant in the winter but I happen to know from when it bloomed in the summer that it was a Goldenrod.  In fact I am super pleased that this naturally occurring plant has been spreading in my front garden bed.

Seaside Goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens) 

Here is a pic I took of some down at Battery Buchanan at Fort Fisher in late October.  The leaves look a bit different on a fully grown plant but note the reddish stem.

Local Treats (02-03Jan2025)

In the couple days leading up to the Christmas Bird Counts, it was fun to kick around my local areas while juggling some work stuff.  A quick visit to Wade Park yielded the usual suspects.

Eastern Bluebirds were enjoying some non-native trees with berries.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are always around in the winter.

A young Little Blue Heron 

Southern Wax Myrtle or Bayberry is a really cool native plant in our area.  Some cool facts, Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warblers get there name from this plant because they love the berries.  The Wax part of the name comes from the fact that early settlers boiled the berries to make wax for candles.  This plant also has many medicinal properties.

American Black Ducks can be difficult to find in Wilmington, or at least one that has not mixed with Mallard.  This one looked good for a full blooded specimen.  

For a lunch break,  I headed out with Sam, Jacob and Jesse to Landfall to check the lake after a report of an immature Purple Gallinule the previous day.  Spoiler alert, we didn't find it but had some other good birds.

Double-crested Cormorant

American Wigeon - unfortunately the Eurasian Wigeon from last year is not around.

Blue-winged Teal

Green-winged Teal

Spotted Sandpiper

Canada Goose

Friday morning I woke up early again for a sunrise on the Johnnie Mercer Pier.

Common Loons are remarkably good fishers, seemingly coming up with something a good percentage of the time.  

Laughing Gulls don't laugh too much this time of year.  

Least Sandpiper on the north end at Mason Inlet.

Nelson's Sparrow - little contrast between the malar and the breast and the streaks on the breast are blurry.

Lesser Black-backed Gulls have been increasing in number drastically over the years.

There is over 20 LBBGs in this shot alone!

Of course Ring-billed Gulls are one of our most common gulls this time of year playing see-saw with Laughing depending on where you are and the time of day.  

American Herring Gull with the bubble-gum pink legs.

A goth looking LBBG with mascara.  

Piping Plover

Semi-palmated Plover

Western Sandpiper

Saltmarsh Sparrow - tons of contrast between malar and breast and the streaks are nice and dark.

Seaside Sparrow

Nelson's Sparrow

A different Nelson's

And yet another that almost looked like a LeConte's Sparrow but was in fact a Nelson's.

For my third iNat submission this year, I chose something in my yard.  iNat came up with Swamp Bay.  I had just assumed most of these seedlings in my yard were Sweet Bays because I have some big ones in the yard but birds help me get some new plants every year by spreading seeds.  

I should have added a picture of the leaf underside because the main difference between Swamp Bay and Sweet Bay leaves is evident when you flip it over.  Sweet Bay leaves are whitish underneath.

I am really liking this iNaturalist New Year's resolution which is helping me to learn more about the nature surrounding me.

My next posts will be from the Christmas Bird Counts in New Hanover and Brunswick counties.