Bear Garden and Some Other Spots (30Mar - 13Apr2025)

Usually this time of year I would be heading up to the mountains for spring migration, but I just haven't found the motivation.  That being said some of our closer spots are pretty good.

 Greater Yellowlegs - Mason Inlet should always be checks for some of the earliest migrants which are the shorebirds.

Yellow Jessamine at Carolina Beach.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow at the Battleship.  This spot has always been where I get my first roughies for the year.  They nest in holes in the side of the battleship.  This one was collecting nesting material.

This piece of wood looks a bit big but it was light enough.

Another one coming in for a refill, looking rather coy.

Cooper's Hawk raiding the sandpiper party.

Sweetgum.  A visit to Brunswick Nature Park was uneventful for birds but great for some plants.  

Pinxter Azalea - most azaleas you see in Wilmington are not native but this beauty is!

Sweetleaf - I thought I knew my plants to a certain extent but this was new to me.

Sweetleaf is all over in BNP.

Sweetleaf Gall - Wow!  A gall that looks like a flower.  This gall is caused by a fungus and apparently it is edible but I didn't try it.

A Swallow-tailed Kite was still patrolling the area on Governor's Rd in Winnabow.

Prairie Warbler - fast forward a week when I visited Holly Shelter gamelands.

Common Yellowthroat

Fetterbush Lyonia

This stuff is all over in Holly Shelter.

The Anhinga rookery is going strong.

Crimson Clover!  Whole fields of this were blooming in the Dove Fields.

Worm-eating Warbler

It was so nice at the Bear Garden side of Holly Shelter that I went back the next day to get some better shots.

Summer Tanager

Yellow-throated Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Hooded Warbler

Worm-eating

Ovenbird

Pine Warbler

Sheep Laurel!  Holly Shelter is such an interesting place.  Makes you wonder with the current administration if all these lands are at risk and if we will lose some pretty important plant species that only seem to thrive in some wild corners.

Prothonotary Warbler

Blue Corporal - Female I think....

Hermit Thrush

White-eyed Vireo

I really love the Bear Garden Tract of Holly Shelter.  I bet another week or so we will have Swainson's and Kentucky Warblers there.

Migration is back in full swing (09-29Mar2025)

Spring migration always starts early in NC with shorebirds.  By early marsh you will start seeing some species you hadn't seen since last fall. 

 Wilson's Plover is one of the earliest to arrive from their wintering grounds in the Caribbean and South America.

Oystercatchers do winter in NC, but they are usually not found on the beaches until they start staking out their breeding areas.  Also, there are some additional birds coming in from further south.

Common Grackles can easily be confused with Boat-tailed especially when in areas that have both.  This one was singing a Common Grackle song but looked just like a Boat-tailed in this pose. 

Common Grackle - a more natural pose for this species. 

Common Yellowthroat - much harder to find in the winter, but starting to show up in numbers now.

Henbit Deadnettle!  Love the name, although it is a bit misleading.  Not only is it not dangerous to eat but it is quite edible.

That being said, I would not eat these types of flowers/plants in most places because of all the chemicals people are spraying everywhere nowadays. 

Southern Fumewort

Boat-tailed Grackle

In mid-March, I finally capitulated and went to chase the Townsend's Warbler being seen in Charlotte for the past 2 weeks.  My son needed a ride for college in Chapel Hill so I just did a big loop around to include Charlotte.

Townsend's Warbler - it didn't take long to show up but it never did pose on a more natural setting for me so I had to make do with a feeder shot.

Meanwhile back at Fort Fisher the Barn Swallows are coming back in numbers.

Laughing Gulls enjoying a sunrise dip at Mason Inlet.

Greater Yellowlegs

Least Tern

In the last week of March we got notice of a Black-chinned Hummingbird in someone's yard near Ogden but firmly in New Hanover County.

This picture was taken from inside his house and you can just barely make out the purple throat feathers, but also the grayish head and clubbed primary feathers.

Fox Squirrel at Carolina Beach State Park

If you believe Merlin, Blue-gray Gnatties are everywhere right now, and I have found some.  Too bad I can't generally hear these suckers.  Interestingly I can record sound and listen to the playback and hear the birds.  I guess my phone's mic is more sensitive than my ears.

This picture almost looks like a Flying Fish taking a landing, but it is in fact a Least Tern.

Northern Cardinal

Green Anole

Swallow-tailed Kites have been circling the swamp on Governor's Rd in Winnabow, Brunswick County lately.  I think they may be establishing a nest in the area.

Prothonotary Warblers are back as of 29Mar.

They may just be the best warbler in NC.  The color scheme is so vivid and clean looking.

I am all for changing the name of this bird to Golden Swamp Warbler.

The Swallow-tailed circled overhead 4-5 times at the bridge on Governor's Rd in the 45 minutes I was there.

Of course Northern Parulas are everywhere already.

I love spring in NC!