A Day in Carteret County (07Jan2024)

My buddy Marty W has been finding all kinds of cool stuff in Carteret County lately so I decided to take a day on the weekend and make the trip.  It ended up being way more cold and windy than I thought it would be, but the birds didn't seem to mind.

I made it up shortly after first light at the Ocean View Cemetery in Beaufort.  Some of the recent sightings there included a Western Tanager, Clay-colored Sparrow and Cape May Warbler.  I only found the Clay-colored.

Clay-colored Sparrow hanging out with a bunch of Chippers.

Blue-headed Vireo

European Starlings

Orange-crowned Warbler

Blue Jay

I did eventually see a large yellow bird flyby in the cedars but I couldn't get a confirmatory look.   I decided to move on.  

Just a little down the road, there was a Bullock's Oriole coming  to a feeder, and I was able to get permission to drive in and use my truck as a blind in the driveway.

First a nice Baltimore Oriole showed up.

Then this nice Bullock's came in.  Note the whitish belly, vague eyeline and little goatee.

Bullock's Oriole

It was almost lunch time at this point and with the wind I was hesitant to make the trip to Shackleford Banks initially, but I figured I had the time anyway so I booked the 1pm ferry.  I had about thirty minutes before I needed to go catch it, so I went back to the Cemetery to kill the time.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Another Orange-crowned Warbler.

Still no luck with he Tanager.

The ferry ride over from Harker's Island to Shackleford was less windy than I thought it would be and there were tons of Dovekies swimming and flying around, but I didn't take out the camera due to salt spray.  The tide was low when they dropped me off, and that meant I was better off staying on the marsh side of the island to look for birds.

I was able to sneak up to this Red-Breasted Merganser using stealth mode.

What a stunning bird when you are able to get close and see the details.

A small number of Wilson's Plovers winter at Shackleford.  

I couldn't believe how many Piping Plover were here.  I counted at least 14 but I think there were many more.  When I get a chance I will submit this one as I can make out "TOL" on the green leg band.

Red Knots were also abundant!  

This Piping Plover had all kinds of bling.

Whimbrel - it is difficult to find birds among the Oyster beds, but with persistence I could have probably found the Bar-tailed Godwit that comes here every year for the past 5-6.  I only had a couple hours and I didn't bring a scope.

Marbled Godwit

Wild Horse 

Just about when I was going to head back to the ferry I saw this Long-billed Curlew!  Such a an amazing bird.

The ferry picked me up and told me they just had to stop at Cape Lookout for a pickup.  Well it ended up being a one hour wait because the idiots that he was picking up got lost and couldn't find the ferry landing. I really couldn't understand this because the landing is next to the only big building around which happens to be a really tall lighthouse.  You can see the lighthouse from most places on the island.  However, when given lemons, make lemonade. The deckhand and I spent the hour filming and photographing a Dovekie that was fishing next to the pier.  

The light was really horrible with the setting sun shining directly on the bird, and he only spent about 2 seconds on the surface for every 60 seconds and you never quite knew where it would pop up.  The deckhand had a waterproof phone and was videoing the Dovekie underwater and got some great clips.  I wish I had asked him to send me some.

Eventually the captain got frustrated with waiting and just brought us back.  Poor guys had to go back to Cape Lookout to wait for the idiots after they dropped us off.  They probably had to motor back in the dark which is tough because of the many shoals in this area.

Western Flycatcher and the Dovekie Invasion! (05-06Jan2024)

The plan was to chase the continuing Western Flycatcher in Durham on Saturday but the weather looked horrible with potential sleet so I decided to get off work early and jam it up on Friday afternoon.  This beauty of a vagrant has chosen the most unlikely of spots to winter.  Morris Green Park is a postage stamp sized park in the heart of Durham's downtown area.  Somehow I hit no traffic and got there at the golden hour which is 3:30pm this time of year.  I saw some people leaving which made me nervous because I would now need to find it on my own and only had about an hour tops. Luckily it was very conspicuous!

Western Flycatcher perched on a string of lights.

Perched on the floor!

I took about a billion pics but I will spare you any more.

It's a good thing I bagged it on Friday because Saturday ended up being something for the record books.  I knew the birding at Johnnie Mercer Pier was going to be good because of the strong East winds, but I was not prepared for what happened.  I joined up with Sam and Jacob and we quickly noticed tons of Dovekies  flying by the pier north to south.  Many of them were being pushed close to shore by the wind and then when they hit the north side of the pier they flew up into the wind to the pier end right past us.

We had some groups that numbered more than 30!  

Of course some were on the water too...

We had a ton of Parasitic Jaegers too!

By lunch-time the morning flight stated to wane.  We had tallied a whopping 1079 Dovekies!!  I believe that is a NC record even when considering pelagic trips off of Hatteras.

Later in the afternoon, I headed to the north end of Wrightsville Beach to see what I could see.

Huge numbers of Bonaparte's Gulls was unusual for this time of year.  Usually they start coming in big numbers in March.

This Ring-billed Gull had some bling on his leg.

Forster's Terns sporting the winter pirate patch.

Willet

Black-bellied Plover

Forster's in flight.

The Black-headed Gull is always around but most times is difficult to find in the horde.

Such a pretty gull!

American Oystercatcher 

Sometimes a Lesser Black-backed Gull can get legs that are almost pink, or at least not yellow.

Black Skimmer numbers are starting to wane.

Black Skimmers manage to be goofy and elegant at the some time which is not easy.

Semipalmated Plover

Least Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper

Dunlin

As the sun started to set, I decided to check the marsh side of Shell Island real quick.

A Dovekie swam in the little pool right behind the resort!  

It's always with mixed feelings seeing these rare birds during an irruption because usually these events lead to die offs and in fact I saw many dead Dovekies not he beach.