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.