Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) - 16Oct2016

Some plain looking birds can cause quite a stir and are sought after quite vigorously.  Our native Marbled Godwit is a gorgeous bird compared to the European Bar-tailed Godwit but familiarity breeds contempt and we would choose a Bar-tailed over a Marbled any day.   Conversely Europeans would freak out if a Marbled Godwit showed up in Europe.

This particular bird was located by the esteemed John Fussell of Coastal North Carolina (http://www.uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=510) birding fame.  He pegged the ID right away based on the short legged appearance.  It is interesting that Bar-tailed Godwits are almost the same size as the other godwits (Hudsonian for example) but simply appear much smaller because of their short legs.

Bar-tailed with short legs compared with Marbled behind.

Tucked in it almost looked like a Willet but the feathering on back has more detail. Of course once you see the bill it seals the deal.

Here you can see the barring on tail which differentiates it from Black-tailed or Hudsonian Godwit.

Chuck-will's-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis) - 26May2015

Goat suckers, what's not to love.  They are masters of camouflage, they make all kinds of weird noises and can sing with the best of them, they are nocturnal and they suck goats.  Ok well maybe they don't suck goats, that is an unproven myth.  However, it is a better name than Nightjar which is even more lame.

Chucks are bigger than Whip-poor-wills and they are more common near the coast.  This particular bird was actually found by a non-birder that almost stepped on it while it incubated eggs.  They gave me general directions and it still took me the better part of two days to find it.  That is how well they are camouflaged.  It turns out the male and female split duty incubating and over the next week myself and a couple other people I brought down saw both the male and female.  If we got even remotely close, one of the birds would fly in and try and distract us.  We kept a respectful distance.

Nashville Warbler (Oreothlypis ruficapilla) - 23Oct2016

Usually Nashville Warblers seen in Wilmington, NC have driven me bonkers as they tended to stay very high in tall trees and all of my previous photos were akin to some Nessie photos.  These hyperactive small warblers breed in Northeast Canada (at least the Eastern subspecies does) and then migrates to Mexico and adjacent countries.  However, they do have the tendency to stick around sometimes even into the winter.  This last Sunday at Fort Fisher I finally captured some decent shots.

Reddish Egret (Egretta rufrescens) - 03Oct2016 & 27Jul2019

The drunken sailor of the bird world, Reddish Egrets dance around with wings spread and in no predictable pattern in order to scare prey into it's reach.  Others say the raised wing is to produce shade to better see the fish below.  This particular bird was pretty mellow and was found on Shackleford Banks.

Here is an attractive juvenile bird in the Florida Keys in 2019.

Hammond's Flycatcher (Empidonax hammondii) - 29Nov2015

See my other posting for a comparison to the similar Dusky Flycatcher.  This Hammond's Flycatcher actually did vocalize which helped to clinch the ID.  Some other key hints: more peaked looking head, long primary projection (how much the primary wing feathers project from the secondary ones), it stayed fairly high up most of the time choosing fairly mature deciduous and coniferous trees and finally it was in an area where other experts have regularly reported this species and not the other.  This was in Ramsey Canyon in a comparatively more lush landscape with plenty of large trees including very large conifers.  Of course taking photos of a small flycatcher in a conifer is not easy so luckily this one forayed a bit into nearby deciduous trees that had lost their leaves or dead branches.

Dusky Flycatcher (Empidonax oberholseri) - 26Nov2015

The Dusky Flycatcher is one of those troublesome empidonax that is almost impossible to distinguish by sight alone.  It is easily confused with Hammond's Flycatcher.  However, by piecing together typical habitat, behavior, voice and previous sighting information, it can be done fairly reliably.  The below bird was photographed in Florida Canyon near the famed Madera Canyon in Southeast AZ.  Dusky Flycatchers tend to stay out in the open, lower down and in more scrubby riparian habitat.  Hammond's on the other hand tend to hand out higher up in coniferous areas.  I ended up seeing a Hammond's on this same trip a couple days later over in Ramsey Canyon which is definitely chock full of conifers and true to form it stayed higher up.

I believe this particular bird was the same bird that some other very good birders (eBird reviewer) had also reported in Florida Canyon on either side of my visit.  Note the relatively short primary projection.

Note the relatively rounded appearance of the head.  Hammond's has a more peaked looking head.

Here is presumably the same bird taken later in the day when I brought my brother back to look for the close by Black-capped Gnatcatchers.

Black-throated Blue Warbler (Setophaga caerulescens) - 18Sep2016

Black-throated Blues are the quintessential Blue Ridge Parkway warbler for North Carolina.  This is one of the handful of warblers that can be found summering in NC.  They can be found at lower and higher elevations and their buzzing song can be heard even by half deaf birders like me.  I captured the below picture on the Commissary Ridge Trail just down from the Mount Mitchell summit, the highest point east of the Mississippi River.  Now I just need to get a picture of Black-throated Green eating green grapes.