One Last Push (27-31Dec2018)

I spent the last 5 days of the year trying to get 1-2 more birds but spoiler alert, I failed.  However, I am proud of the final number - 352!

Some time was spent on piers looking for Harlequin Ducks...

Parasitic Jaeger at Johnny Mercer's pier in Wilmington.

Saturday I went to Camp Pretty Pond in Brunswick County to look through the large flock of ducks where a Mottled Duck was reported several weeks back.  I did find a couple candidates but they were really far off and I was uneasy about putting Mottled on my list but in the end I did decide there was some Mottled and I planned to come back to try for some closer shots.

One of the Mottled candidates on the left.  A buffy face with unstreaked throat and a warmer colored body compared to the American Black Duck on the right.  Also the bill was bright yellow compared to the olive yellow of the Black Duck.  Finally I noticed some white in the speculum which a Black Duck would not have.  So I put it on my list which brought me to 353 for the year.  However, a couple days later I went back and decided after much deliberation to take it off and remain at 352.  I just don't like ending the year on a bird that has potential hybridization issues.  Maybe I can take a half point for it? Joking.... kind of.

On Saturday night I had a decision to make.  Should I go to Hyde County and chase a Golden Eagle seen at Gull Rock Gamelands which would also give me a shot at Yellow-headed Blackbird, or should I go to the mountains and try for Golden Eagle there and have a shot at Ruffed Grouse?  It was suggested to me that if I wanted to get Golden or Ruffed Grouse, the best man for the job was Eric H.  So I called Eric and set it up.  The plan was to help on the Stone Mountain CBC and then go up and look for Grouse and Golden Eagles.



Eric is a falconer and has a couple of Harris Hawks.  Very cool birds.  Some folks have negative perceptions of falconry but all I saw were a couple of birds that had every opportunity of taking off if they wanted to but actually seemed to happy to stick around.  The two birds were released at the beginning of our walk and followed us all around while we conducted the CBC count.  Unfortunately I never got to see them in action as we were not able to find any bunnies, but it was very cool to see them flying around in the woods.

Once the count was finished we headed up to the Parkway and tried some spots for Grouse but were not able to find any.

Then we headed up to Cheek Mountain and drove all over the northern portion of the state near the Virginia border scanning the skies and tree tops for Golden Eagles.

We couldn't figure out what happened to this Red-tailed Hawk, was it shot and then fell into the tree?

At the very end of the day we got all excited when we finally saw an Eagle flying over the ridge...... But alas it was a Bald Eagle which apparently is less likely to see up there.

So the number remains 352 which is still a huge feat.

I plan on doing a year in review later with some key photos from the year, but until then, here is one of my favorites from a Pelagic trip.

So what is in store for 2019?  Don't worry my dear readers, more materials are incoming.  I plan on staying more local and actually have signed up for a 5 Mile Radius challenge which will help me concentrate on the areas within 5 miles of my home.  I hope this will help reduce my footprint and I can give my old truck a rest.  However, I also am planning trips to the Yucatan and Colombia so there's that and I am sure I will chase any state birds that happen to show up.