Unbelievable! (12-13Feb2022)

Yesterday was probably the best one day birding experience I have had in North Carolina let along in my home town of Wilmington.  I have had amazing pelagic trips, unforgettable migration events in the mountains and some pretty rare birds over the years.  However, yesterday we had two NC first state birds both at Wrightsville Beach and they were both eye-popping birds.  The only thing that could remotely made it better was if I had found them.  Thanks to modern technology I was able to jump on these quickly when they were found.

The first bird was a state first Mountain Bluebird that was photographed on Friday by someone at WB and then confirmed that evening by Mark K.  A couple of NC heavy hitters were already there when I pulled up and they pointed up at the wire above my truck where the bird say preening in the early morning light.  It took a while for the lighting conditions to improve but luckily the bird was super accommodating and is still there as I write this.

Amazing!  A Mountain Bluebird from the Rocky Mountains flies to the east coast and perches on a canoe of the same color!

I took about a zillion photos but have picked some of the best for my readers.

The normal range of the Mountain Bluebird.  I have seen them in Colorado.

Just down the street some Fish Crows were calling "uh uh" so I took some video.  That particular call is diagnostic for a Fish Crow which is almost impossible to differentiate from American Crows visually.

On the way home I stopped at Airlie Gardens and did my usual loop around the garden, keeping my eyes peeled for a hummingbird that has been arousing Black-chinned suspicions but I was not able to locate it.

Orange-crowned Warbler

White-eyed Vireo

Pied-billed Grebe

At home we played out our usual family ritual of a big egg lunch with home fries and veat (vegetarian meat) and a game of Wingspan.  It was such a beautiful day I decided to put on my work clothes and do some raking in the yard.  Just as I was getting started I got a notification that some OBX birders had found an adult Heermann's Gull on the north end of WB!  Somehow I changed and drove to the beach in under 15 minutes.  The parking lot at Shell Island was full so I back-tracked to the next parking lot and had to run a good mile to the inlet.  It was worth it and to be honest I needed some miles anyhow.

Heermann's Gull!!

After flying around for a little it went over to roost on the south end of Figure 8 island, but luckily it got flushed over there and came back and somehow I lucked out and it landed right next to the group of birders I was in.  

Look at that gob!  Now I see how gulls can swallow huge fish with no major problem.

An absolutely stunning bird.  It looks like the same bird that my friend Sherry photographed down in New Smyrna Florida back in January!

The icing on the cake is I got to share the birds with my old buddies Sam, Greg and Harry as well as some new friends.  Unfortunately the Heermann's was not seen again today, but I will keep an eye out.

Red-throated Loon - I spent some time ocean watching this morning at Johnnie Mercer.

They are really goofy looking when flying.

Long-tailed Ducks are seemingly everywhere lately. 

After the pier I figured I would wait the rain out under the eave at Airlie and wait for hummers to come to the feeder.

All I saw this time was a male Ruby-throated that spends most of his time in the Live Oak right next to the feeder.  If you soon in close you will see he has a growth on his foot.  I don't think it's bumble foot, it looks like a mite or some tick.

Here you can see the wings are much shorter than the tail tip and the wing tips are pointy.  A Black-chinned would have clubbed wing tips that reach almost to the tail tip.  After a while I tired of the feeder and walked the gardens in the rain with my trusty umbrella.  I love walking the gardens when no one is out but the bird activity was minimal.

The Black-crowned Night-herons looked miserable. 

Finally the real reason I was killing time was to go back to the beach at low tide and get me some Purple Sandpiper pics.

Purple Sandpipers!

The break wall between the beach and the jetty is only exposed on days with small swell and at low tide.  Usually there are fishermen on or near the wall and they scare the birds further away out of picture range.  Today the poor weather helped me out.

I had my boots on so I walked down as far as I could without getting wet or falling in.  Not easy with a camera and an umbrella in the rain.

I figured I owed it to the birds to live a little dangerously as they do it every day.

Great times.

Next week if my Covid Test goes well, I will be on my way to Antarctica!!!

Consolation Prizes (02-06Feb2022)

I have not had good luck with pelagics for quite some time.  I made the drive up to the OBX this past weekend but the trip was postponed to Monday which I couldn't swing due to work.  Of course they got crushing views of Common Murres and had tons of Puffins.  The good news is I had plenty of consolation birds from Dare county to keep me satisfied.

First a couple pics from during the week at home.

Long-tailed Ducks seem to be everywhere this year.  These were at Johnnie Mercer pier.

I had thought they come to the pier to eat clams or mussels growing on the pilings but here I see they must also be catching fish that live in the seaweed that grows there.  Must be a hazardous proposition considering all the old fishing hooks undoubtedly embedded in the old pier.

Laughing Gulls are starting to come into full breeding plumage and some are looking like Franklin's.

Sanderling

Pied-billed Grebes at Airlie Gardens.

On the way up to the OBX on Saturday, I made a stop at a park in New Bern to look for some White-winged Scoters that have been hanging out.  

White-winged Scoters - It look a little while to find them.

By the time I got up to Alligator it was almost lunch time and I decided to make the drive down Sawyer to look for Golden Eagles.  That is the only place I had ever seen one in NC and I was heartened to see David F had just seen one an hour before I got there.  I got to the first impoundment and got out to stretch my legs and boom, there it was soaring.

An all dark eagle that needed scrutiny to ID for sure.

When the sun caught it, the golden nape really stood out.

The under tail coverts were buffy like they should be on an adult bird.

And finally the dorsal view sealed the deal with the light carpal bars.

Not an easy bird to see in NC!

Of course there were plenty immature Bald Eagles around too, which are there to trick less careful birders.  I have seen tons of Golden reports lately but without photos it is hard to know how many of them are valid.

A little further to the east I stopped at Bear and Link Rd and my luck continued with the long returning Rough-legged Hawk flying directly overhead.

On Sunday we showed up to the dock to find out the pelagic was canceled due to the high wind and waves  Initially I was going to head straight to Cape Point but for some unknown reason only my unconscious mind can explain I stopped at Oregon Inlet and Pea Island to see what I could find.  It ended up being a big mistake as others had California Gull, Kittiwakes, Little Gull, Glaucous and Iceland Gulls at the point and when I did finally get there I only bagged one of those.

American Avocets are always fun to watch.

There are currently two Eurasian Common Teals at Pea Island. Note the horizontal white line on the shoulder compared the vertical ones of the American Green-winged Teals.

American White Pelican

Most of the Scaup were difficult to ID but with some study I was able to pick out one of each.  The "cleaner" one on the right is a Greater Scaup.  Note the more rounded head and whiter flank.  

Whereas this Lesser Scaup has a peaked head and "dirtier" flank.

American Shoveler 

When I finally did make it to Cape Point, I found tons of birds but all the more rare ones had already left with one exception.  Daniel I was ocean watching and I was focusing in the opposite direction looking for the California Gull in the over wash when I picked out something different with all the Bonaparte's Gulls.

Can you see it?

Black-legged Kittiwake! It flew up and I yelled over to Daniel a heads up.  Somehow the bird flew over my head and landed right next to Daniel on the beach!

Daniel had seen a bunch of fly-by birds but this was the first he saw land on the beach.

This lone Caspian Tern was also a weird bird as they typically are not around in the winter.

Savannah Sparrow.

It was about this time that I got a call that the Snowy Owl was back on the north side of Oregon Inlet so I loaded up and headed out.  Just as I was getting back on the paved road, I saw an American Bittern flush from some grass.

Now I have never had any luck with attracting a bittern closer with playback, but I gave it a try anyhow and it worked!  He came charging over wondering how I knew his language.

I would have spent more time with him but I had a date with a Snowy.

It took me a while because the Snowy had been flushed by a dog walker, but I did finally find it on the north side of the Oregon Inlet campground.

There has been a ton of discussion about posting the bird's whereabouts because it is a sensitive species, but I think as long as most people are responsible and don't try and get too close, it doesn't seem to mind humans too much.

Great times!