Ice Storm and Sparrow Fields (19-23Jan2022)

Our ice storm was hyped up quite a bit but it wasn't all that.  During a proper ice storm we get woodcocks falling out on suburban lawns.  Not this time.  First a couple pics from before the storm.

House Sparrow at WB

Brown-headed Cowbirds on way home from beach in random empty lot.

Red-tailed Hawks

Song Sparrow at Wade Park - I have been going to this local park to get a quick walk in before work. Sometimes the only birds I can rely on are the Song Sparrows.

Swamp Sparrow

The ice storm put up ice on the plants and trees but didn't really accumulate on the ground.  Woodcocks come in droves to the coast when the ground inland freezes because they must know that the coast usually is more temperate.  They make their living probing in the earth so hard freezes can be tough for them.

I decided to stay close to home and just take a walk around my neighborhood until the roads were safe.

Fox Sparrows seem to be one species that become more conspicuous when we have bad weather.

This Northern Flicker was not loving the ice and allowed me to approach closer than they usually do.

Red-shouldered Hawks seem to like the neighborhood one street over.

Blue Jay

Northern Cardinal - the state bird of NC.  So unoriginal, but beautiful none the less.

The Fox Sparrow was still in the same spot on the way back into my neighborhood.

Of course Yellow-rumped Warblers are plentiful and can be seen flopping around everywhere.

Once the roads seemed safe and the ice melted, I headed out to try the sparrow fields at Blue Clay which is just on the northern border of my home county.

White-throated Sparrow

Eastern Towhee - I couldn't believe how many Towhees were in a small area.  They all had different eye colors too.   This one was amber-eyed.

This one was dark-eyed.

White-eyed male.

Red-eyed male.

Field Sparrow

Clay-colored Sparrow!  Not sure if it is the same one Sam found.

That evening Derb invited me to Figure Eight and we took a walk to check through the massive gull roost on the south end of the island.   

The most Lesser Black-backed gulls I have ever seen on this stretch of coast including transitional plumaged birds.

Meanwhile back at CB Lake the next day....

Little Blue Heron

Boat-tailed Grackle at Fort Fisher rocks.

I caught this Saltmarsh Sparrow taking a bath.

American Oystercatcher

Orange-crowned Warbler

Cedar Waxwings - you need to check them all in case a Bohemian WW tries to slip in.  You know those Bohemians, they just show up out of nowhere and before you know it they are not fitting in even if they tried.

Belted Kingfisher 

Red-breasted Merganser - the only duck on the aquarium pond. I don't know what they did to that pond. We used to have all kinds of ducks there in the winter.  Maybe they put down herbicide or something. Damn humans.

Finally I headed over to Carolina Beach State Park and took a nice long walk on the sugarloaf trail.  It was so nice to not have any worry in the world and just soak up my surroundings on a beautiful day.  I even ran into Mark G and was chatting about Antarctica when this guy flew overhead.

Wood Stork

I was able to track where he put down and even got Jesse our resident park ranger on it.

Great times.