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!
Hi Jamie,
ReplyDeleteThanks 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.