Yellow-throated Warbler at Burnt Mill Creek
Barred Owl at BMC
Cattle Egret at the old Monk Parakeet stakeout in Northwest
Chimney Swift at Lock and Dam
Swallow-tailed Kite at Blue Banks Rd. Usually I have to lurk around 3-4 times around Blue Banks to get a STKI, but this was only my second drive through.
Chimney Swift
There have been tons of gulls and terns on the North end of Wrightsville but I have not seen the Black-headed Gull. Lots of Bonaparte's with hoods.
Least Tern
This Royal Tern gave me some trouble as the bill was super red and there was more dark underwing than over wing but the lack of a dusky tip was problematic. I suspect that Caspians are over reported at the North End. As well as Long-billed Dow.
Bonaparte's Gull with full hood.
Forster's Terns need to be more closely scrutinized this time of year as they are missing the eye patch.
Sandwich Tern!
Last week I had a short business trip to Raleigh Durham and I managed to work in an early morning visit to the NC Botanical Garden at Chapel Hill.
The resident Louisiana Waterthrush couple was holding court over the stretch of creek that passes by the garden.
Pine Siskin! They have been few and far between in the triangle this year.
After my work obligation I swung by Mid Pines to avoid the traffic on the 40 and found this Vesper over by Chi Rd.
Saturday George had a game up in New Bern, so I planned a trip to get my Long-billed Curlew at Shackleford and then head over to the field in New Bern to watch the game. The plan went off without a hitch.
Royal Terns courting. This guy offered this young lass a tasty fish.
I am not sure what it is, but every time I see a Sandwich Tern I start to get hungry.
Tons of Whimbrels feeding in the mud flats kept throwing me off in my LBCU search.
Long-billed Curlew - after searching the mudflats for over an hour, I crossed to the beach and there it was all alone on the beach.
Cinnamon underwing is a great field mark.
Little Blue Heron
Eastern Kingbird at ILM Observation area.
Osprey
Caspian Tern at Twin Lakes in Sunset Beach.
See the dusky bill tip?
Fox Squirrel black morph.
Black-bellied Plover at Ocean Isle Beach.
Gull-billed Tern at OIB
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Finally I was able to do a quick visit to my favorite coastal plain warbler spot of Howell Woods yesterday. It was soooooo nice to hear all my friends back from the tropics. The orchestra of bird song was amazing.
Hooded Warbler
Swainson's Warbler
Wood Thrush - my favorite all time song for NC breeders is Wood Thrush. Ethereal! I heard 5-6 of them singing yesterday.
Summer Tanagers also were singing up a storm.
Life is good...
Awesome! Won't be back to NC until mid June, so will probably miss most migrants, but outstanding variety and commitment to get them!
ReplyDeleteLove the Swainson's crushes, and many others. Is that bird more than 3 feet above the ground!?!?!
10 feet 3 inches but who is counting. They will pop up to sing and drop back down to feed. I had 2-3 singing.
DeleteExcellent as always. Despite the plethora of amazing bird pictures, I think I enjoyed the Fox Squirrel the most. I haven't personally seen the black morph before. It's such a cool animal.
ReplyDeleteYeah the weird thing is I haven't either and then that day I saw two of them 10 miles apart.
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