I am still on pace to beat my previous best year effort, but falling behind as I take a vacation out of state for the first time in 1.5 years. I am sitting here at home after a nice week-long visit to my in-laws in Oregon and I can't wait to share some of the pics, but that will have to wait for the next installment. Here are some photos from the pelagic I took before vacation and a couple nice birds the day before my flight. Due to work commitments I arrived on the outer banks late on Wednesday night and didn't get to do any birding before the pelagic.
Dawn the Rosy Fingered.
I spotted a couple Red-necked Phalaropes on the way out to the gulf stream and managed to snap a pic at cruising speed.
Manx Shearwaters are always nice to see zipping by and usually its on the way out or in.
The shadows played with the shading on this Manx.
The call went up for a Long-tailed Jaeger and I managed to get on it quickly which is good because it didn't stick around.
From pictures it is hard to differentiate from a Parasitic but in person the flight style is fairly distinctive.
South Polar Skua!
I could post about a thousand Skua pics but will spare you.
Ok just one more!
Wilson's Storm-Petrel picking up a piece of chum.
Wilson's SP
Audubon's SW
Cory's
A Baltimore Oriole way out on the Gulf Stream! Poor thing.
Trindade Petrel! Its always exciting when one of these aerialists wing by at speed. This one was especially nice as it was a light morph with a striking pattern.
Dorsal view
Black-capped Petrel
Once again we had more than enough Pomarine Jaeger views.
At one point I think we had 4 of them hanging around the boat.
Sooty Shearwaters were super accommodating.
This Sooty got dunked by a Wilson's SP.
He recovered nicely though.
Arctic Tern!
Roseate Tern! It was nice to get this bird out in it's element rather than scoping one on land.
Roseate - look at those tail streamers!
Arctic - I got to study these up close on breeding grounds in Iceland, but it was nice to re-acquaint myself.
A Wilson's SP reflects long legs in the deep blue of the Atlantic Gulf Stream.
A Great Shearwater shows it's mottled "arm pits".
After the pelagic I went to Hatteras point to look for the Black-whiskered Vireo that Daniel Irons found but came up empty except for this Eastern Wood-Pewee.
And this Prairie Warbler. I also scraped up my legs in the bushes and still have scabs all over my legs.
Friday I worked from Hatteras and took the afternoon ferry to Okracoke and then Cedar Island.
Black-necked Stilts at Cedar Island
Least Bittern!
I spent the night in my truck with a plan to wait out the wind and try for Black Rails in the predawn. I tried hard and walked the causeway for over a mile in the areas I have heard them before but dipped hard.
Back home in Wilmington, I went to my Common Nighthawk honey-hole and found one quickly.
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Semipalmated Plover
Royal Tern bill color can be quite different depending on the angle viewed.
Some Forster's Terns are hanging around but starting to lose the pirate eye patch.
On the Sunday before my vacation, I took a group of Audubon members on a walk around Howell Woods. We had all the usual specialty breeders for the site including this Wood Thrush.
A Swainson's Warbler pair was still posted up in the same spot as 3 weeks ago.
A Yellow-breasted Chat never came in close but still gave good looks.
The Kentucky Warbler was being difficult but we eventually all got good looks.
Black Rat Snake
Red Knot out on the spit.
I found these Black-bellied Whistling-ducks at Carolina Beach Lake the day before our flight to Oregon.
I am happy that a bunch of people were able to get them too.
I continued my lucky duck streak with this pair of Mottled Ducks that Dave found earlier in the week at Fort Fisher Aquarium Pond.
Its possible that the one with the orange and black bill has some hybridization going on but I think the yellow-billed one is good for a full blooded Mottled based on the spot on gape, warm color, blue speculum with no trailing white edge and warm tail with no white.
The one white feather under the speculum was just a misplaced feather not part of the blue speculum.
Finally I managed to squeak one more in before my flight, this Yellow-crowned Night-heron was at Burnt Mill Creek.
Get ready for some nice Oregon birds for my next post!
Great installment! That Roseate Tern is, and probably will remain, one of my favorite birds of the year. It was a life bird, and all the descriptions I've read and photo's I've seen did not do this incredibly elegant bird justice. You totally crushed it, by the way!
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