Beaufort, Greene and Lenoir Counties (16-18Apr2023)

Holy smokes, April is always a tough month to stay on top of and it has been especially difficult because I just took a week vacation in California and I still have Utah backlog from my Xmas vacation!  So no shortage of material to share.  First up is a couple days in mid April when I visited three more counties for my 100 counties in NC project.  I had just come back from California on Saturday morning from my red-eye flight, so I was hesitant to go back out and drive but the siren song was calling, or more appropriately the Henslow's song.  Every year in April-May I head to the old decommissioned Voice of America site in Beaufort County near Bear Grass to get a peek at the Henslow's Sparrows that get active there around this time of year.  I was a little late getting up and its a 2-3 hour drive from Wilmington so I was worried it would get hot and the birds would stop singing.  When I got out the truck, I was initially alarmed that I could not locate any of the tell-tale farting call/song of the Henslow's.  However, after some exploring of the side roads that you can walk on, I did find a handful singing and this particular one was super cooperative.

Henslow's Sparrow

Prairie Warblers were also establishing breeding territory and were very cooperative.

Oddly enough, the Common Yellowthroats were less cooperative.

Eastern Kingbird

Beaufort is one of those counties that is named after someone that has a county and a town/city named after them in NC but oddly they are not adjacent.  Beaufort the city is not in Beaufort the county.  The county seat in Beaufort County is Washington or what the locals affectionately call Little Washington.  This is not to be confused with Washington County which of course is not encompassing Washington the city/town.  

Beaufort County has about 45k people mostly in Washington or Aurora, and is otherwise quite rural.  According to Wiki:

"Beaufort County was first called Pamptecough. The name was changed about 1712 to Beaufort, named for Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort (1684–1714), who became one of Carolina's Lords Proprietor around 1709."

I kind of like Pamptecough better which was a Native American word although I can't find the meaning of it.

Also according to Wiki:

"According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 958 square miles (2,480 km²), of which 827 square miles (2,140 km²) is land and 131 square miles (340 km²) (14%) is water.^[5] It is the fifth-largest county in North Carolina by total area. It is split in half by the Pamlico River and the mouth of the Pamlico River." 

Anyhow, it is a nice county and Washington is a nice town on the water (Pamlico River) and boasts some notable people of which I picked my favorite, Dominique Wilkins!  I have some good memories of watching him play when I was growing up.

• "Dominique Wilkins, nine-time NBA All-Star, noted as one of the best dunkers in NBA history, earning the nickname "The Human Highlight Film." In 2006, Wilkins was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame."

But I digress.... After the VOA site, I hit up a couple of counties on the way home.

My methodology for picking sites in a county is usually looking at eBird and picking the spots with the most species.  So that's what I did for Greene County.  My first stop was the Greene County Sports Complex but it was super hot and buggy there and the birding was abysmal.  

So I moved over to the boat ramp and trails which are named Scout Park in eBird although I could find nothing online about a Scout Park. Both these spots are bordered by Contentnea Creek which drains into the Neuse River way downstream.  Scout Park was much better. I ran into a nice feeding flock at the end of the trail which winds next to the river.

Notice this looks a lot alike the previous image taken about 300 yards up river, but it had gotten cloudy and the bird activity was probably picking up as a consequence.

White-eyed Vireo 

Prothonotary Warbler

I have been super lucky with Yellow-throated Vireos so far this spring.  They usually are not very easy to photograph in my experience.

It started to rain a bit so I took that as a queue to pack it in and head to the next spot.  But first some fun facts about Greene County!

The population is about 20k people, and the county seat is Snow Hill which is where the two spots I birded in are located.

This map is zoomed out the point where Contentnea Creek is not even visible.

A quick history lesson from Wiki: 

"Greene County, being a part of land grant by King Charles II of England in 1663, was first settled around 1710 by immigrants from Maryland, Virginia, and parts of North Carolina. The original inhabitants of the area, the Tuscarora Indians, fought with these immigrants and on March 20–23, 1713, a fighting force of South Carolinians and Yamasee Indians, under Colonel Murice Moore, defeated the Tuscarora, under the leadership of Chief Hancock. This was the final major battle of the Tuscarora War at Fort Neoheroka near current day Snow Hill."

Not much else to mention here and unfortunately I didn't have time to visit the town and patronize a restaurant.

The next spot I picked was Neuseway Nature Park in Kinston, NC.  It was fairly hot out by this time so I don't have much to share, but I could see it being a decent place first thing in the morning.

Brown-headed Cowbird

Chipping Sparrow

I think this is a Lancet Clubtail which is a first to me.  They have more yellow than the Ashy Clubtail on P9 which is the last long segment on the abdomen.

Kinston and consequently this park is located in Lenoir County.  Lenoir County has 55k people and has an area of 400 square miles.  

There are quite a few famous people from this county and specifically Kinston but my favorite is another NBA player, Jerry Stackhouse!  He was a Tarheel but also played 18 seasons in the NBA.

Well all that was on the 16th but I have a couple photos from a quick visit to Wrightsville Beach later in the week.

Wilson's Plovers are back in full force.

Likewise for Sandwich Terns.

A few Common Terns are establishing territory in the breeding colony.

Common Tern

Royal Terns getting frisky!

Black Skimmers are back in huge flocks.

It turns out I had already visited Beaufort County this year so only Greene and Lenoir were new.  That brings me to 39 counties for the year.  I think I posted incorrectly 35 last time, I really had 37 from the last post and added 2 more this time.

I am already back from another trip from the Raleigh and Charlotte areas this past weekend while I brought my son to his Science Olympiad competition and a track meet.  I will save those for another post.

Mr. Jones and Me (25Mar - 04Apr2023)

I have been seriously neglecting my county birding lately, but can you blame me when I had the opportunity to go to England?  Then when I got home, I had to play catch up on other stuff and so when the weekend came around I was hesitant to go too far afield.

First some local stuff:

I went to the Battleship one day to see if I could get a Virginia Rail or Sora to show themselves with no luck, but I did get this guy as a consolation.

Common Snapping Turtle

Alligator Snappers have big knobby protuberances on their shell, so this was a Common, but it was large!

I also took a drive to Governor's Rd in Brunswick County to look for some early returning migrants but had little luck with birds but the dragons were out.

I am going with Ashy Clubtail for this one, but will fix ID if someone else knows better.

Great Black-backed Gull at the south end of Wrightsville.

The light was really good this day so I took a ton of pics:

Boney

The Least Terns were streaming in from the south.  Maybe I was catching them at the end of their long voyage back to their breeding spot.

Common Loon almost in breeding condition.

Some of the Bonies were getting some interesting caesar cuts.

Dancing on the water as they do.

Some of the Forster's Terns were in really interesting plumage.  This one had recently molted its tail and looked funny.

I can add this one to my Birds Pooping page.

Least Terns streaming in.

An interesting first year Forster's Tern with very dark wings.

And another...

An adult Forster's Tern with white primary feathers on the dorsal side.

That's seriously dark for a Forster's!  Perhaps these young 1st year birds mostly winter south and that's why I don't remember seeing them this dark in my recent run-ins.

You have to love the local kids' artwork on the signs at WB.  Don't be absurd!  That's what I frequently think to myself when I see people letting their dogs off leash. 

Anhinga at Anne McCrary Park in Wilmington.  Look at that fluorescent green eye!

Green Herons are back.

Meanwhile back in my backyard.....

This Red-shouldered Hawk lives/nests somewhere in the trees behind my house as I am constantly hearing and seeing him/her flying overhead.  I was painting my fence and witnessed it swoop in and murder this squirrel.  Thanks mr. Red-shoulder!  I don't hate squirrels but they can be a pain.  I don't keep hummingbird feeders anymore because they always chew off the bee guards and guzzle the nectar.

On Sunday, the plan was to head up to Atlantic Beach, NC and hit up the surf and then continuing from there to pick up some new counties.  The surf was disappointing so I left the beach by 9 or so and headed up to my first stop in Jones County - Island Creek Rd.  

Some quick facts about Jones County.. Its the fourth least populous county with only about 9k residents!  Perhaps that is why I like it so much.  I usually head to some spots deep in the Croatan in May to look for breeding Black-billed Cuckoos.  Catfish Lake is the lake on the far eastern border of Jones County in the map below.

But this time, I headed to Island Creek which is just east of Pollocksville. 

I forgot to take a picture of the trailhead sign so I stole this one after a quick Google. 

The bird pics are all mine....  MWuahahahahhahah (evil laugh).

Great Crested Flycatcher 

Red-eyed Vireo

Carolina Satyr

The Northern Parulas were everywhere!  This trail was gorgeous, winding around in the deep woods next to a creek and the light was perfect even in the late morning because the trees filtered it so it was not harsh.

Louisiana Waterthrush - these guys are really cooperative when they are first posting up to a territory and the hormones are raging.

There were still a bunch of Yellow-rumps but they are on their way out.

My Merlin App was picking up Yellow-throated Vireo and so I decided to play some quick scold notes and see if one would come in.

Bingo!  Yellow-throated Vireo.  I didn't harass him, but once it came in it attracted a little group of excited birds from his own scolding.

Blue-headed Vireo coming in to check the action.

Yellow-throated Warbler - that's some seriously cool bokeh!

The birds continued to forage around me but the activity caused more and more birds to come in and check out what was happening.  At this point I was silent and just watching to show.

Yellow-throated Vireo

Yellow-throated Warbler

Purple Finch - I don't know if they were their the whole time feeding at the top of this tree or they had flown in with the rest of the flock but I counted 8-9 of them.

Ovenbird!

By the time I got off the trail it was after noon and pretty warm out.  Initially I was going to hit up some other nearby counties but I figured it would be slow birding and kind of just wanted to go home and spend time with the family unit.  

This Barred Owl was out at Greenfield lake during the week on the only morning I didn't have early teleconferences.  I was looking for Prothonotaries but no luck.

So now I am at 35 counties down, 65 to go.  Not sure if I will get 100 by the end of the year, but a man can dream.  I am having fun doing it regardless.  

Next week I am in San Francisco and Yosemite for vacation with the family! Should be fun.