Holidays in Eleuthera (15-26Dec2023)

It's been a couple years since I went to Eleuthera.  Not much has changed which is a good thing.  However, we did get a little unlucky with the weather.  The first 4 days were raining and storming and the next 10 days were very windy and mostly cloudy.  We didn't have power for the first 5 days which would be mildly annoying usually, but since the power also pumps the water from the cistern, we didn't have water for several of the days which is a little more than mildly annoying. Overall it was great seeing family and spending some quality time with my immediate family unit.

Here are some various pics from the area around Old Calypso, which is my father's land.

Thick-billed Vireos are the most commonly heard and seen passerines on the property.

Composia fidelissima the Faithful Beauty or Uncle Sam Moth.

There were a ton of Least Grebes on the ponds this year including many young ones like this one which have white markings on the face.

Bahama Woodstar - my father has planted Firecracker plant all over the property and consequently has attracted what seems like half the Eleuthera population of Woodstars.

I will have to enter this small frog into iNat to see if I can get an ID.

White-crowned Pigeons are easier to see in towns where they have grown more bold, but at my father's place they are usually very shy so I was chuffed to get this photo on the property.

This White-eyed Vireo flagged as rare in eBird.

Yellow-crowned Night-herons love the mangroves around the ponds.

This American Kestrel murdered a little passerine right in front of my father's house.  I think it was an Indigo Bunting.

This was the first year where I saw Mangrove Cuckoos on my father's property, and I them frequently.

Common Ground Doves are ... common...

Black-faced Grassquits were also very common this year.  

Here is one doing a Kakapo impersonation. 

Palm Warblers are the most common warbler in Eleuthera. 

Smooth-billed Anis are mostly heard not seen but I did manage to see a few.

Greater Antillean Bullfinches are common but a little more difficult to photograph.

I think this was only the second Zenaida Dove I have seen in Eleuthera. 

Northern Waterthrushes are quite common.

The large pond south of my father's place was chock full of Lesser Scaups but they mostly stayed out of range.

A small flock of Red-breasted Mergansers was a new bird for me in Eleuthera and one of only a few previous sightings on the island.  They were quite distant so this was the best I could do for a documentation shot.

Here is a White-crowned Pigeon from the settlement which was much more tame.

A male Black-faced Grassquit.

Bananaquits love the many epiphyte flowers which were blooming.  We planted these epiphytes on the property over 20 years ago and now they are everywhere.

ID coming after iNat confirms...

Common Yellowthroat - I am still looking for a slam dunk Bahama Yellowthroat to photograph.

American Redstart 

Great Lizard Cuckoo - I only saw one this year.

Prairie Warbler

Adult Least Grebe

Bananaquit on an epiphyte.

Young Green Heron

Yellow-billed Sapsuckers are the only type of Woodpecker I see on Eleuthera.

White-cheeked Pintails 

Overall it was a great trip and I can't wait to go back.  I would love to go in May and see what kind of birds I can turn up in the spring.

As I write this, it is December 28th and I am getting excited about the prospect of a new year of birding!  Next post will probably be packed with some year birds and maybe even a new NC bird for me considering a Harris' Sparrow is still being seen up at Warren Wilson College.

New Hanover Stuff, a Broad-tailed Hummingbird and Anson County (30Nov-03Dec2023)

Things are busy lately!  Work is gangbusters due to end of the year activities and I have taken on a surveying gig at the south end of Figure Eight Island a few days a week for a dredging operation.  So I have had very little time for continuing my county effort.

This Piping Plover on the south end of Figure Eight Island has been present at every survey I have done so far.  I googled "Piping Plover V92" and found the following:

"It was banded as a pre-fledged chick at Fire Island National Seashore, NY on 7/2/2021. It's been seen at Wrightsville Beach, NC every winter since, and back in NY in the breeding seasons."

The gull numbers have been truly amazing but so far I have not turned up anything rare. Lesser Black-backed Gulls are getting more and more common every year at Mason Inlet. The Black Skimmer flock is still around numbering over 400. I suspect they will leave soon. However, I love waking up and watching the sunrise....

No filters on this iPhone pic.

On my one day off I made a run to Union County near Charlotte to check out the continuing Broad-tailed Hummingbird which is only the state's second record. It didn't take long to show up. I set up my 800mm lens with 2x extender to play around. I knew the quality would be impacted by the lens length and fixed aperture (F11) but I was curious on how it would perform with a tripod mount.

Not a bad shot although I wasn't able to free the wings. This is a full frame shot with no cropping.

Here you can see how the tail extends well beyond the wing tips which is a key field mark for this species of Selasphorus which includes Rufous and Anna's.

These pictures are back to my 100-500 lens.

So cool that the lady who owns the house in this suburban neighborhood has allowed so many people to come and see this little gem.

The weather was supposed to rain all day so I was really please that it held off. Initially I was just going to go home but since the rain held off, I decided to stop at Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge for a brief visit. Pee Dee sits in Anson County which is a new county for my year effort, but more importantly its one of the only NWRs in NC I have not visited. I came in from the west side and kicked around the visitor's center and adjacent pond. As is typical with NWRs, it was not very birdy, but I enjoyed the trails and solitude. I only saw one other car and it was super quiet.

Eastern Phoebe

I picked up the usual winter birds like Winter Wren, Fox Sparrow and Hermit Thrush but the photography was bad with horrible light so I will spare you.

Anson County is 531 square miles which makes it one of the bigger counties, but it only has about 23k people in it which makes it one of the less populous counties. It is bisected by route 74 which is becoming an interstate corridor that connects Wilmington to Charlotte and beyond.

Anson has has several famous sports stars, but I was more interested in someone called Juanita Moody, which was a cryptographer with the NSA during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Take a read you are interested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juanita_Moody

My overall impression of Pee Dee was that it could use a face lift.  Many of the boardwalks were roped off for "maintenance" but in actuality I didn't see any evidence of any kind of maintenance.  It looks like it could use a cash infusion or maybe a new superintendent with some motivation.  

On the way home, Sam C texted me that a Sandhill Crane was sitting in a field in northern New Hanover County.  I don't have one for the county so I was excited, but knew I would not make it home in time before dark so it would have to wait until Sunday.

Sunday Morning started with the count at Figure Eight.  The rain miraculously held off and I finished the count and headed to the Sandhill stakeout.

Bingo!  It was still there and as a bonus I saw Shun E who I have not seen in forever so it was nice to catch up with him.

Any time I can get a NC lifer (Broad-tailed Hummer) and a County lifer (Sandhill Crane) in a two day period is a good time for me.

So with the addition of Anson County, I am up to 67 counties for the year.  Clearly I am not going to make 100 but it has been a ton of fun and I will continue into the new year until I have completed the mission.