Social Distancing (28Mar - 11Apr2020)

I know, everyone is sick of that word.  And I am a loaner usually anyhow so it's not too different.  The irony is that although I need to stay away from people, I have to stay close to home.  I am glad that mother nature seems to be getting a bit of a break though. The air quality is so good I can see the Himalayas.

At the end of March, I made one try for something a little farther afield and went to Howell Woods. Of course after the hour plus drive I get there to find a Closed due to COVID sign which was super annoying considering I checked online before I went. So I explored some side roads and found some early breeders but nothing too special.

White-eyed Vireo

On the east side of Holly Shelter on a subsequent weekend I found some more early breeders and some birds hightailing it north.

Common Loon migrating just above the trees.

Bachman's Sparrow

A skink?

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

Prothonotary Warbler

Brown-headed Nuthatch

Common Yellowthroat

Oddly enough the Johnnie Mercer pier was open most of April...  It still is but they closed the parking lots to people living off island so you can't really park.



Common Loon almost in breeding plumage.

Least Terns are back

Sandwich too.

Laughing Gulls are looking snappy.



Purple Martins are back...

They are fighting the House Sparrows for real estate.

Common Tern

WTF!!! A Mute Swan on the ocean?  Can I call this a wild countable one?  I have never seen a Mute Swan on the ocean before.  At one point it was in the middle of a huge loon flock.

My first day off of the year and I decided to make a dash to Jordan Lake in Chatham County to try for the Neotropic Cormorant that Jelmer found.  My biggest mistake was I decided to take the back way and stopped a couple times to bird including at the Lock and Dam in the Riegelwood area.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow at Lock and Dam

I got to Jordan Lake and apparently missed the Cormorant by about 30 minutes.  It was never seen again...  This is life. I am pretty sure we will get another soon although that was the first NC record.

Caspian Tern

Northern Rough-winged Swallow.

After that debacle I have decided to stay local.  Here are some photos of some local birds at CB State Park which is thankfully still open.

Great Crested Flycatcher

Painted Bunting

Spotted Sandpiper

Yellow-throated Warbler

Meanwhile at CB Lake....

Barn Swallow



Killdeer



DC Corm waving hello

Blue-winged Teal

Laughing Gull

I love April.  The March doldrums are finally over.

Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) - 31May2018

Here is a real stunner of a bird that we used to get in NC many years ago and actually just had a few last year, but I still need one for NC.  This one was photographed in Michigan when I took a side trip from a work trip to Chicago.

Band-rumped Storm-petrel (Oceanodroma castro) - 25May2018

Pelagic birding has the tendency to make a decent birder feel like a newb all over again.  Storm-petrels are especially tricky to ID when mixed in with large flocks and the sea tossing the boat around.  The Band-rumped is a larger longer winged Storm-petrel than the common Wilson's and has a different flight style than the Leach's.  That being said, I still have trouble picking them out and find that locating them using the naked eye is easier than getting nocs on them.

Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) - 20May2018

This is a good example of a common bird that somehow slipped notice and did not make it into my pictorial list until now.  One of the first birds I learned to ID from my Ornithologist neighbor when I was a kid in NY.  This one was a side show to the Shiny Cowbird at Fort Macon in Carteret County, NC.

Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus) - 05Oct2017

Dowitchers are very tricky but I think I am getting better at IDing them when up close and with careful study.  In my opinion the best field mark is the Loral Angle.  If you look closely below at this dowitcher photographed at the North end of Wrightsville Beach, you will notice that the V which is formed by the supercilia (brows) is relatively even.  On a Short-billed Dowitcher the V is pinched at the bottom mainly because the supercilia flare up in from of the eyes (lores) on a SB Dow.   Add to that the relatively long bill with little kink to it and you have a good candidate.  The body looks kind of roundish but that is my least favorite marks.  I believe this bird was also calling while feeding which I think is a mark for Long-billed as Short-billed usually feed in silence.

On the far left you can see a more typical Short-billed that has the pinched supercilia.

Here are some even better photos from the Oregon Inlet Fishing Marina on the OBX, NC in late July 2018.

LB in center and SBs to left.

Oh baby, look at that beautiful V.

Chestnut-collared Longspur (Calcarius ornatus) - 17May2018

This is probably one of my best birds in NC for a number of reasons.  First it is a stunner and longspurs seen out of range are not usually in breeding plumage.  Secondly this day was already fantastic from a birding standpoint as I had spent the day up in the Winston Salem area and had racked up a great list and some excellent photos.  When I received the text that this bird was being seen at the Cape Point campground in Buxton, NC I was a good 4 plus hour drive away.  So my decision to chase it immediately was a risky one and I had already driven 4 plus hours earlier that morning.  Luckily the bird stayed put and I made it to the campground before the light got really bad. My buddy Jeff L was already there when I pulled up and pointed it out for me.  Sometimes everything comes together nicely.