Saturday, February 17, 2018

Here Kitti Kitti Kitti.... (11-17Feb2018)

I worked hard to plug holes this week and then Saturday was rewarded with a prize.  First things first though, here are the plugs.


Brown-headed Nuthatch at Holly Shelter



Red-cockaded Woodpecker at Holly Shelter - the habitat is looking great and best thing about it, no guns!  By the way, if you own a AR-15, please consider destroying it and joining the unarmed militia.  I don't own a gun and let me tell you, it is liberating and feels great.



Double-crested Cormorant


Dark-eyed Junco at the Battleship in Wilmington.  Last year I didn't get one in New Hanover at all.  I am not superstitious but I am on a roll and this Dark-eyed Junco was just one more good omen.


Belted Kingfisher at FF


Boat-tailed Grackle


Palm Warbler at FF


Savannah Sparrow at FF


Common Grackle at FF



Gray Catbird at FF Aquarium


I believe this one is a Nelson's Sparrow - the lines not too dark and somewhat blurry, the bib is well defined and the contrast between malar and breast is minimal.


Saltmarsh Sparrow - lines darker and more crisp, and the bib is not well delineated.


Seaside Sparrow at FF - a hat trick!



Saltmarsh Sparrow



Great Egret

Saturday I got to Johnny Mercers Pier first thing and joined forces with Sam Cooper's Audubon group.  Our first bird was a dark sulid that initially had me thinking Sooty Shearwater from a distance but closer inspection revealed a Gannet.


Chocolatey immature Northern Gannet


Red-breasted Mergansers - the strong northeast wind was bringing all kinds of birds streaming by.


First of the year Black Skimmers

Sam's group headed to the North end and I stayed because I just felt something good would show up eventually and my intuition paid off.  A Black-legged Kittiwake flew by at high speed and I put my bins on it.  Luckily it flew to shore about a hundred yards down the beach and started feeding in the surf.  I called Sam and ran down to where it was.


Black-legged Kittiwake - Wrightsville Beach, NC.






I couldn't help myself and took hundreds of pics.




Not a bird you see every day in ILM.


The whole Audubon group got on it, I think it was a lifer for a bunch of them.  It was still there when I left to drive my kids to soccer.


Red-shouldered Hawk at Wade Park


Loggerhead Shrike at Veteran's Park.

What a week!

1 comment:

  1. Hi Jamie,
    Thanks for two enjoyable installments in your blog. This one, with the Black-legged Kittiwake, shows how exciting it is to find an unusual bird AND lead other birders to the sighting! I missed the BLKI that appeared for ONE DAY, years ago, on Falls Lake in Wake County. Talk about a bird off-course! Harry L found it and got the word out, and scores of birders saw the kittiwake that day. Not me; I had my "carolina birds listserv" set to "one daily email" so I saw the notes the next morning. Now I have a couple of birders who will text me if something wonderful like that appears. I do the same for them.
    I will put another comment in the newer blog post.

    ReplyDelete