This post is full of bad pictures and ugly birds so if you are a photo snob you might want to skip this one.
First some pics of some birds around my home town.
Magnolia Warbler at Greenfield Lake.
Northern Parula
Maggie
BT Blue at Greenfield
Wilson's Warbler - kind of rare around Wilmington.
Cape May
Maggie
Hmm, I have been trying to learn the ins and outs of empids using this website:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54b9bb6fe4b07b4a7d145b55/t/573a7a4960b5e908af3f0a48/1463450185977/Empid+identification.pdf
I don't think my pic is good enough though.
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Either this Parula had a bit of an accident or it is a Bay-breasted x Parula hybrid.
Blackpoll
Then last weekend I took a day trip to Warren Wilson College up in Swannanoa, NC. Right off the bat I ran into a nice little flock in the rain and had trouble getting my camera on the fast moving flock which included vireos and Bay-breasted Warblers among other things.
This empid was staying high in the canopy so I never got to ID it.
This Yellow-throated Vireo was flagging as rare and I finally got my Philadelphia Vireo but I was not able to get a photo. The rain and the fast moving nature of this flock flustered me and I missed my only chance of the year for the Philly.
The Sparrows were thick all day but the wind kept them hunkered down for the most part.
It took a couple hours but I finally got my Lincoln's Sparrow
Song Sparrow
I also found a White-crowned Sparrow but it was deep in a thicket and a picture was impossible before I lost it.
On the way home I checked in with Dwayne and he said there was a Purple Finch on the feeders at Riverbend Park so I swung by.
House Finch on the left and Purple Finch on the right. It was getting late and the light was poor.
Not the best looking Purple Finch I have ever seen but I am not picky.
Back in Wilmington, the warblers were still coming through in dribs and drabs.
Tennessee Warbler is a good bird in Wilmington. Fort Fisher.
The Pine Warblers at Greenfield are plentiful and studying the variation is always humbling. Here is a somewhat muted individual.
This one was downright drab.
A White-breasted Nuthatch is a good bird in Wilmington. Greenfield.
American Redstart at Greenfield.
Someone reported a Glaucous Gull at Fort Fisher so I jammed down there but was a little disappointed to find the following monstrosity.
The bill looked interesting but the rest of the bird looked like a Herring Gull to me.
A real honker of a bill.
There are many problems with this bird but the dark primary tips rule out a pure Glaucous easily.
The following morning at Carolina Beach State Park I heard a murder of crows hassling something so I followed the noise and found the following scene.
A Red-tailed Hawk was perched in a Turkey Oak and when I walked closer and closer it refused to flush.
A couple feet down the trunk this Fox Squirrel was petrified and obviously being stalked by the Red-tail.
I tried scaring the RT Hawk away but it was fearless and determined. If it was a Gray Squirrel I would not have interfered but I have really been enjoying watching the Fox Squirrels at CB State Park and I believe their survival in the park is not totally established.
Those talons are gnarly!
I finally left hoping the squirrel got away but knowing probably it did not bode well. In the Long Leaf Pine forest there are not many placed to hide.
Pine Warbler
Another morning I went to Fort Fisher and walked the first part of the basin trail.
Sedge Wrens are back and bold.
Marsh Wrens too.
Nelson's Sparrows were also plentiful.
An alert Swamp Sparrow finished out the morning session.
Work is killing me and I need to fly to Philly for a few days. Not good for my big year effort but hopefully someone finds something rare while I am gone and it sticks around.
