5MR Neglect and Some Random Pics (16Feb-04Apr2019)

I have been neglecting my 5MR in favor of tending to my garden/yard and just spending more time with my family.  That being said, I am always keeping my eyes open and snapping some pics here and there.

First up, let's review my birthday treat of a pelagic on the OBX.  On the way there I stopped at Mattamuskeet and Lake Landing.  The Brewer's Blackbirds are still hanging out at Lake Landing.

Male and female Brewer's Blackbird.



The pelagic itself was a little lackluster but that's the way it goes with pelagics.  Sometimes they are good and sometimes they are not.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Manx Shearwater



Diamond Shoals - read the wikipedia page or even better the write up on this website: http://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=1690

The below photo is from that website.

Great Skua!  

Back on land this loon gave me a nice look at it's webbed feet.

And now for some 5MR catch up!

Cedar Waxwing on my Live Oak.

Northern Cardinal

Pine Warbler at Halliburton Park.

Long-tailed Duck at the south end of WB.



American Crow with it's eyelid down.  I have video of it calling but I will spare you that.

American Robin at Oleander Memorial Gardens.

Blue Jay

Bonaparte's Gull on the south end of WB.

Piping Plovers

American Oystercatcher

Tricolored Heron at Airlie Gardens.

Some type of slider?

Pied-billed Grebe

Hmmm, one of these days I will get me a butterfly guide.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Northern Parula

B&W Warbler molting its tail.

Purple Martin at the south end of WB.

House Sparrow contemplating the micro plastics messing up his dust bath.

Laughing Gulls are back in full summer plumage.

Ruby-throated Hummer just hanging out on my Weeping Cherry.

The grayish area on the forehead was interesting but I am dismissing it as pollen or something.

Brown Thrasher at the Cross City Trail over by UNC Wilmington.

Brown-headed Nuthatch

More 5MR catch up next installment from after my return from the Yucatan.

Hooded Warbler (Setophaga citrina) - 18Apr2018

This beauty is one of my favorites. It has the complete package including bright coloration, a cool hood, a song that carries and an aggressive disposition when on territory. Fun fact from the Cornell website: "The white spots on a Hooded Warbler's tail help them capture more insects, possibly by startling the insects into taking flight. An experimental study conducted in Pennsylvania found that birds with temporarily darkened tail feathers were less successful at capturing insects than those with white spots on their tails."

This one was photographed at Howell Woods in Johnston County, NC.

Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) - 30Apr2017

Per the Cornell website: "Red-headed Woodpeckers breed in deciduous woodlands with oak or beech, groves of dead or dying trees, river bottoms, burned areas, recent clearings, beaver swamps, orchards, parks, farmland, grasslands with scattered trees, forest edges, and roadsides. During the start of the breeding season they move from forest interiors to forest edges or disturbed areas. Wherever they breed, dead (or partially dead) trees for nest cavities are an important part of their habitat. In the northern part of their winter range, they live in mature stands of forest, especially oak, oak-hickory, maple, ash, and beech. In the southern part, they live in pine and pine-oak. They are somewhat nomadic; in a given location they can be common one year and absent the next."

This is the travesty of the tendency for humans to remove dead trees. Keep the trees where they are please!

Here is one from Wilmington on the Cross City Trail.

Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) - 26Apr2017 and 19Nov2017

My quest for decent Horned Lark photos finally ended in New York while visiting my family for Thanksgiving.  My NC photos still stink.

Here is one of the many bad shots for a NC record also taken in 2017 at Mid Pines Rd in Raleigh where they can be found every year.

American Golden-Plover (Pluvialis dominica) - 10Oct2017 and 01Oct2018 and 06Oct2020

The daintier and more elegant of the two Pluvialis we get in NC, the American Golden-Plover is also the more rare.  Mostly they can be found in flooded fields during migration, but every so often we get them on the beach.

Here is the latest picture from the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center on the OBX on 06Oct2020.

This one is from Fort Fisher in Oct 2017.

Here is one in more typical habitat at the Cedar Island Ferry in Oct 2018.