LBJ from Texas (19-24Oct2021)

Birding is weird.  If you would have told me that hundreds of people from all over NC and even further afield would drive 10 or more hours round trip to see a Little Brown Job (LBJ) that looks somewhat similar to a female House Sparrow, I might not believe you.  First some local birds..

House Wren at Fort Fisher

Cape May Warbler also at FF

White-crowned Sparrow

Coyotes are really beautiful.  Somewhat reminiscent of my favorite mammal the Tibetan Fox.

Monarch on Seaside Goldenrod at FF.

DC Cormorant at FF

Black Skimmers at the north end of WB - still no luck with rare gulls, but the sunsets have been phenomenal so well worth the parking fees.

Just one of many pics that fails to capture the true splendor of a great sunset.

On the weekend I had a pelagic scheduled in Hatteras and originally I was planning to take off from work after a half day but there was so much going on I decided to stay in the office.  At about 2pm I got a rare bird alert for a Thick-billed Longspur at Oregon Inlet.  Thick-billed Longspur is the new name for McCowan's Longspur which is a bunting type bird of the Western Plains which spends it's winters in Texas and Mexico.  This particular one is presumed to be a non-breeding plumaged male (little brown job) that somehow went the wrong way after spending the summer up in Montana or Canada and didn't make it to its winter home in Texas.  Fun fact, LBJ the former president was also from Texas.  LBJ also has a ton of funny bathroom stories which you can check out here: https://historycollection.com/lbj-used-one-thing-control-others-around-became-known-johnson-treatment/2/

I did the quick math and even if I packed the car quickly and set off I would just be getting there at dark and it would be unlikely that I would find it.  So I finished a full day at work in agony and set off for the outer banks not getting to Hatteras until 11pm.  I had already paid up for the pelagic so I just had to hope the Longspur would stick around until after the boat trip.  Most pelagics end by 4-4:30 pm so that would give me an hour to get up to Oregon Inlet and hopefully get the Longspur before dark.  

The weather was great but that usually is not a good thing for pelagic birds, they enjoy wet and wild weather.

Black-capped Petrels never get old.

We had multiple Pomarine Jaegers follow the boat.

Most of the Cory's type Shearwaters were Scopoli's.

Great Shearwater

Pale Pomarine Jaeger

The day went by super fast and before I knew it we were headed back to port without me picking up a year bird.  Super disappointing that I have been on over 10 pelagics and I missed both Tropicbirds, both Boobies, Fea's Petrel, Red Phalarope and Great Skua not to mention the Wedge-tailed Shearwater.  Better luck next year..

Somehow we ended up getting back to port at 5pm and that meant we only had 1 hour to get to Oregon Inlet and look for the Longspur.  I drove like a madman and made just under an hour and lucky for me Martina was on the bird so no hunting needed.

Thick-billed Longspur

I took a million more pics but will spare you all the different angles.

Rather than drive home in the middle of the night, I crashed near Duck in my Volvo and headed to the boardwalk in the morning.

Plenty of Blackpoll Warblers were still around.

A Tennessee Warbler flagged as rare.

A Western Kingbird was seen on the boardwalk the previous day but it had flown the coop.

I went back to Pea Island and didn't find anything of note but I just had to stop back and check on the Longspur.

It was good to get it stretching and showing its field marks like this chestnut wing panel.

And the white tail feathers.

I took the long way home again hoping for a rare Kingbird on the wires south of Mattamuskeet but only had this Bald Eagle as a reward for my efforts.

So close to my previous big year record but off the mark none the less.

Say's What??? (10-17Oct2021)

I hate to start a post with such bad quality photos but I feel compelled to be true to chronology.  This presumed Herring Gull seen on the north end of Wrightsville Beach was different enough that I snapped some photos as the light failed.  

The eye was decidedly dark but maybe not as dark as expected on a California Gull.  The legs were not really pink like a normal Herring but not quite yellow or blue although some greenish blue tint was mixed in.  The gape was pink and the bill had some red near the tip.  The markings on the neck were probably more consistent with Herring than California.

I posted it on What's this Bird and one person commented that it was interesting but leaning towards Herring.  

Magnolia Warbler hanging from what else, a Magnolia. Local birding in the mornings for warblers has been good but not really for photography.

Word of a Say's Phoebe in Union county southeast of Charlotte had me jam up late in the afternoon after work one day.  It was risky because the weather wasn't great and birds tend to make themselves scarce in the afternoon.

Say's Phoebe - after 15 minutes of me frantically searching it finally showed up about 75 yards away on some fencing.

Look at that tail!  Black is beautiful.

It eventually made its way over to me and I was able to crush it.  Interestingly it had a white spot behind its eye.

There is a push now to rename birds that have been named after people.  I vote we change Say's Phoebe to Peach-bellied Phoebe.

Short-billed Dowitcher - Several trips to Fort Fisher have been fruitless.  Its only a matter of time before a Western Kingbird or something more interesting shows up.

Northern Parula - one morning at Wade Park the warblers were bouncing around a low Silk Tree (Mimosa) allowing for eye level views.

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Cape May Warbler 

SB Dow - I continue my quest in the evenings to find a Franklin's Gull among the throngs of roosting gulls on the north end of Wrightsville Beach and I continue to be disappointed by people letting their dogs run off leash and scaring all the birds away.

Young Black Skimmer

Seaside Grasshopper!  Who knew there was a species that specializes on the beach.

Black-bellied Plover

Stilt Sandpiper and Dow

My youngest son George had a Regatta with his sailing team up at Jordan Lake in the triangle area so I took him up on a recent Friday night and stayed over in Cary.  In the morning I dropped him off so he could help rig the boats while I went to Ebenezer Point to take in the warbler migration.

I saw plenty of warblers but they were high up in the trees and I didn't get any pics.  This presumed Northern Cricket Frog was a nice consolation.

Presumed Amanita Cokeri - poisonous.

I raced back to the Crosswinds Marina in time to see my son set off and subsequently win his first race ever!  He was the crew and the skipper was really experienced but it was cool to see him win out of more than 20 boats.

I found this food truck in Cary on my way out and was so glad I did.  Not only was the name super cool (translated to the drunkards!) but the food was awesome.

Its been a while since I had a Torta and this one with Barbacoa brought me back to my days living in California.  Sorry for those vegetarians that don't like looking at this kind of stuff.

After this I headed out to the outer banks for another try at Hudsonian Godwit.  Sunday morning started with a nice walk around the Duck Boardwalk.

Philadelphia Vireo

The most accommodating Philly I ever saw!

Pea Island was a big disappointment and I headed home the long way to look for flycatchers around Mattamuskeet.  I have had good luck there before.

Gray Kingbird - I ended up finding the one rare Kingbird I didn't need for the year.  Nevertheless it was good to get a self found rarity.

Great times...