Spring in Wilmington and a near miss at Magee Marsh (16Apr to 7May2022)

Here is a potpourri of photos from mid April through mid May.  I always like to start out mid April with a trip to Governors and Lee Buck Roads in Brunswick County to hear some of the returning resident breeders like the Prothonotary and Prairie Warblers.

This Wild Turkey better watch its step as this is hunting lands..

Southern Pearly-eyes are best IDed by the color of their antennae (orange with no black tip).

Limonethe maurator - a species of wasp with very little information on the inter webs.  For any of you budding naturalists, this would be a good one to study.

I always visit this particular side road off Governor's Rd to get my Northern Bobwhite fix.

Meanwhile at the north end of Wrightsville Beach, the Least Terns seem to be more successful this year as I haven't seen any Gull-billed Terns pillaging the nests.

I love the sand patterns the tide makes on the north end.

Greater Yellowlegs in snazzy breeding condition.

Short-billed Dowitchers also looking snappy.

Caspian Tern

Yellow-rumped Warbler at a new park for me, Pages Creek Park Preserve.  This is a small peace of land off Middle Sound Loop on the north end of New Hanover County.  It has great potential and I will definitely be checking it again during fall migration.

One evening Melissa and I went to see Spoon at the Greenfield Lake Amphitheater.  I am not into big shows with billions of people, but I can have a great time at small venues like this local one.  Spoon was awesome.

Red-cockaded Woodpeckers seem to be doing better at Holly Shelter now that target shooting has been banned in the gamelands. Before the ban, guys would show up with their military assault rifles and literally shoot trees until they fell down.  

Prothonotary Warbler at Holly Shelter.

Southern Blue Flag Irises growing wild at Holly Shelter.

Eastern Kingbird

American Alligator 

Mississippi Kites are back in full force in Wilmington and I am seeing them daily outside my house.

Someone found a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at Fort Fisher and I couldn't resist.

Melissa has been feeling poorly lately including some chest pains and unfortunately the local docs haven't been doing a great job prioritizing the testing she needed so we ended up getting an appointment at Cleveland Clinic up in Ohio and flew up in the first week of May.  My parents came and watched the dog and kids for us. The good news is that Melissa saw an awesome doctor up there and got the meds she needs to hopefully prevent recurrences of her heart troubles.  We also got to take some time to explore Cleveland and I got a half day to check out the famous Magee Marsh near Toledo.

The weather was pretty horrible most of the time, but we made it to Wendy Park near downtown Cleveland on one of the first days.

Black-throated Blue Warbler - A big push of migrants was not in the cards for me, but there were some around.  Apparently a couple days after we went back home a huge wave of warblers came in.

Blue-winged Warbler working the canopy at Wendy Park in the rain.

We ate at this sushi restaurant called Goma and it was awesome!  I am always amazed when I have good sushi in landlocked places. Cleveland is on a lake but let's face it perch and whitefish are not usually considered prized sushi grade fish.  Whenever I see pork belly dishes on a menu I can't restrain myself, so I ordered Pork Belly Tobanyaki.  Tobanyaki is a cooking style using a ceramic plate which promotes even cooking.  My dish was divine!  The desert was even more amazing.  Sometimes I wonder if it would be nice living near a major city if not just to have access to good restaurants and cultural attractions like museums.  We also visited the Cleveland Museum of Art and it was stellar.  They had Gaugins, a Dali, Monets and even the original Audubon painting of Peregrine Falcons! 

Next to the Museum they also had a botanical garden which has an indoor section including jungle habitat.  There were Ruddy Quail-doves and other cool birds but I didn't have my camera.

Banded Owl Butterfly

We were walking around and randomly found this building designed by Frank Gehry on the campus at Case Western University.

After Melissa's last doctor appointment we headed to Cleveland's Lakefront Nature Park and took a nice walk in between rain showers.

Red-breasted Merganser

White-crowned Sparrow

Veeries were everywhere.

This Veery almost knocked me down with his mighty bellow.

Yellow Warblers where also plentiful.

Finally on Saturday we had a half day to kill before our flight home and I convinced Melissa to go to the famous Magee Marsh near Toledo which was a little over an hour's drive from Cleveland.  The spot is famous because it is in the flight path of millions of migrating birds and if the winds are coming out of the north, the birds pile up as it is the last stop before they have to fly over Lake Erie.  The winds were indeed strong but more out of the east than the north and this probably pushed more birds west away from open water.  Or who knows, maybe it was some other reason but the birding was kind of slow.

Tree Swallow

Magnolia Warbler!

Swainson's Thrush

Tree Swallow

Palm Warbler

I am guessing this was a Common Garter Snake.

Yellow Warbler

The famous boardwalk was crazy packed with people even though we were still a week out from the Biggest Week of Birding festival, so we moved over to an adjacent trail system that was probably better anyhow in terms of birds.

Warbling Vireo

Sora

I think this was a Least Flycatcher but it's always hard to tell when they don't vocalize.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

It wasn't a bad trip even though the circumstances sucked.  I hope to make it back someday.

A Month at Home (03Mar - 10Apr2022)

I have been seriously neglecting my North Carolina year list lately, favoring staying home and working in the garden not to mention my actual job.  It's kind of nice to bird casually and not feel the urge to chase any rarities.  That being said, I do get out for some quick local walks.

The Mallard is under appreciated by some, but I still enjoy one in a nice setting.  This one has made Wade Park his home.

American Oystercatcher.  In March I got my fill of Wrightsville Beach knowing that the pay parking would make future visits costly.  They charge over $5 an hour now and they want the full $10 even if you are only there slightly over an hour which is what a walk on the north end usually takes.  So the south end is a good way to spend under an hour.

Horned Grebes always increase in number in March. 

I took one last visit to the sparrow fields at Blue Clay and found another Grasshopper Sparrow in a hedgerow.

Razorbills have been hard to come by this year so I contented myself with this fly-by off the Johnnie Mercer Pier.

One weekend Steve B came down to get Rocky the Mountain Bluebird and I joined him for some beach birding.

Wilson's Plovers are back.

A Northern Pintail fly-by was my only for New Hanover County this year.

The Black-headed Gull on the north end was starting to develop a hood.

Rocky the Mountain Bluebird!  Some kind soul was putting out meal worms for Rocky and he was gorging himself when we pulled up.

That was the last time I saw him but I think he was there until the end of March.

Unfortunately we were unable to pick up a Pacific Loon for Steve and of course one showed up a couple days later on the south end of WB.

Pacific Loon

One way to tell a Pacific from a Common is the head is almost thinner than the neck.  

Bonaparte's come in thick in March but unfortunately no Little Gulls locally this year.

Pacific Loon

Pacific with a Common Loon showing the profile differences.  Common Loons are the Cro-Magnons of the loons and have a much heavier bill.

Horned Grebe

Laughing Gull 

Common Loon almost in breeding condition.

A Scoter fly-by off the pier had some White-winged mixed in.

In Wilmington you can truly say its Spring when the Parulas are back at Airlie singing their buzzy song.

At the south end of Wrightsville Beach there is a large flock of Common Grackles that like to buck the theory that if its a grackle at the beach, its a Boat-tailed.  Interestingly Merlin called this an Antillean Grackle, but it's clearly not.

The local text chain for birders in Wilmington pinged with an American Bittern at the Walmart retention ponds.  I would have never gone there for birds but it was quite birdy.

At one point he/she flew behind a lone stick thinking he/she was blending in.

I have been trying to get a close-up pic of some Lesser Scaup but this far away shot at the Fort Fisher Rocks will have to do.

Barn and Northern Rough-winged Swallows at Fort Fisher.

After seeing a report of a Common Murre from Johnnie Mercer, but Sam C and I went down to check it out.  We saw an alcid floating way off in the distance and waited..  Finally it took off and flew by the end of the pier..  A Razorbill.  

Blue-headed Vireo

Prothonotary Warblers show up early and Holly Shelter Rd at the north end of New Hanover county is a good place to welcome them.

Ovenbirds too.

White-eyed Vireo

Prairie Warbler

Pine Warbler doing a Blue-winged impression. 

Blue-gray Gnatty with a snack

It was about this time I was escorted off the gamelands I was in by some hunters claiming it was privately leased hunting land.  These guys were really not friendly and I probably will not try going back, so they win.  Its always a bit dicey getting into a disagreement with armed idiots with trigger fingers so I kept my mouth shut and split.

Yellow-throated Warbler at CB State Park - where I can peep at birds and not worry about getting shot.

Ruby-crowned Kinglets start practicing their amazing robust song in late march.

A female Painted Bunting was an early arrival.  Typically I get the males singing before I see a female or young bird.

This Great Horned Owl chick has since fledged from the Marina area at CB State Park.

Great Times!