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.
Orange-crowned Warbler
White-eyed Vireo
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!!!
Wow, 2 new birds in the bush!
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