Early June was good to me! A trip to Carteret County to get some good in-flight Roseate Tern pics ended up being super fun. Then right before I was set to go to Nova Scotia a Plumbeous Vireo was found in Dare County, so I made chase.
But first some local birds....
Black-crowned Night-heron at Airlie Gardens peering into the algal bloom.
I stopped to photograph this Anhinga and then was amazed to see it do something I had not seen before....
It started to probe inside of the turtle's shell, poking him multiple times. I don't know if he just wanted the perch to himself or maybe he was trying to pick off some tasty morsel.... Who knows.
Northern Parula at Airlie.
This warbler was stumping me but I think it is a fledgling Parula based on the eye-arcs and under tail pattern.
I arrived at Fort Macon early one morning and was immediately excited to see Storm-petrels working in the inlet. I could have sworn they were flying like Leach's SPs with the nighthawk like flight but they were far enough out that I could not be sure and I saw Marty W standing by the jetty so I hustled over to him. He immediately got me on the Roseate Tern flock working in the surf just outside the jetty. The terns would work up the sides of the jetty then fly back out beyond the breakers and then work back in again.
Common Terns were more, well common.....
But we had up to 7 of the Roseate Terns in the flock too, and they were quite obvious when they banked and you could see the long tail streamers and the thin black bill.
Although many tern species can get the "roseate" coloration from a diet of crustaceans or other carotenoid containing foods, the Roseate Tern takes it to another level.
Three Roseate Terns in one frame!!
This Common Loon was almost in full breeding plumage and it was flapping around like crazy. I thought maybe a fish had a hold of his leg, but maybe he was just trying to dry out the wings.
There were loads of Wilson's Storm-petrels way out but a few came close enough to notice the legs projecting behind the tail, sealing the ID.
It was cool to see several Sooty Shearwaters come in close and buzz us as they flew up into the wind.
Despite the high winds and crashing waves, some of the Roseate Terns perched on the jetty.
A Sooty Shearwater photobombed by a Brown Pelican.
Back on dry lands at the Fort Macon visitors center, this Marsh Rabbit was fairly fearless. The short ears and lack of a white "cottontail" is what gave it away.
Initially the plan was to go to North River farms with the gang after Fort Macon, but the high wind made that unattractive. Sparrows (Dickcissels) and other farm speciality birds don't like wind. So instead I decided to explore the west side of Emerald Isle at Bogue Inlet. I believe I had been on the west side of the inlet before (Hammocks Beach), but never the east side so I was excited to explore a new corner of our great state.
Several late Black Ducks were swimming around.
Another Roseate! This is 12 miles from Fort Macon so probably a different bird. The pirate in the back is a Forster's with the distinctive eye patch.
Royal Tern
Common Terns in full breeding condition.
Big stretch from a beautiful Roseate.
American Avocet - what a striking bird in flight!
Greater Yellowlegs
American Avocet
Sanderling in a stunning breeding plumage.
Look away kids....
Common Loon
More Wilson's Storm-petrels all the way up the inlet. If you zoom in closely you will see its legs projecting beyond the tail.
Later in the week before our scheduled departure for Nova Scotia, I got a call from Derb regarding a Plumbeous Vireo sighting in Dare County in a private community. At first, I brushed it off because of access issues, but when Jeff L relocated the bird from a public access nearby, it only took me about 30 minutes to make excuses at work and get on the road. The late start meant that I would not be getting to the spot until about 6pm in the rain! Not ideal, but I know from experience sometimes birds are one-hit wonders and it was unlikely that we would get another one of these in a long time. When I arrived, Derb and friends (Audrey and Al H) had secured access to the private community where the bird was found. They had been searching the public areas on and off for about 3-4 hours before I got there without any luck. The rain was intermittent and light so we were hopeful the bird would show up before dark for an evening forage. It took about 45 minutes of looking before I spotted it way up high in a pine. Derb and I called Audrey and Al and followed for a while in horrible backlit conditions before I finally managed one passable shot.
1st confirmed record of Plumbeous Vireo in NC and from the below map one of the only east of the Mississippi but certainly on the eastern seaboard! The lack of any yellow on the flanks and the plain gray head seals the ID and makes this one of the easier to ID of the solitary vireo complex which includes Blue-headed and Cassin's Vireos.
What a nice way to start June! After a celebratory burger at Bros Sandwich shop, I started to head home but I was fading fast and had to crash at a hotel in Williamston which is only about a third of the way home. The good news is that meant I could explore a new county for my year effort in the morning.... Pitt County!
Pitt County is fairly large sitting at 21st on the list of counties in NC by size with 650 square miles. The population includes 170k people and I don't think that includes the student population at Eastern Carolina University which adds another 28k people.
Greenville is the biggest city in the county and where ECU is located. A lookup of famous people from Greenville brought me to Mr Beast! If you don't know who this is, check out the Wiki page : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MrBeast. He is one of the new generation that has made a fortune from Youtube but he chooses to live with modest means and gives a ton of money to charitable organizations. One of his stunts was to host a Rock, paper scissors challenge with a grand prize of $300k.
I knew from previous visits to this county that the best birding spot was River Park North which is a huge park bordering the Tar River.
Prothonotary Warblers were thick here.
There were a ton of different types of habitat within a pretty small area including fields, lakes, hardwood bottomlands and swamps.
I was confused by these trees because they looked like Bald Cypress trunks but the leaves were shaped more like Beech leaves.
Water Tupelo! Very cool.
I love the song Tupelo Honey by Van Morrison so I looked it up. Tupelo Honey is honey made by bees that pull nectar from Tupelo blooms and apparently it is highly prized.
American Snout!
That's 45 counties for my year effort which means I am slightly behind with half the year gone. However, my family unit will be heading up to the mountains for a week next week! I have to work remotely because I am tapped out on vacation but I should be able to bird early and late every day. Stay tuned for some pics from Nova Scotia next..
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