Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) - 17May2017 and 01Apr2017

Here is one from the Battleship in Wilmington, NC in April, 2017.

Northern Rough-winged Swallows are fairly common in NC but melanistic (dark) ones are not and melanistic swallows making a home in a Chevy pickup tailpipe are even harder to come by.  However, that is what I found at Carolina Beach State Park in May 2017.  The female watched from the boat trailer as the melanistic male made many trips with nesting material into the tailpipe.  I didn't stick around to see what happened when the boater came back after a day on the water and fired up his engine.

Female.... watching her mate live out Darwinian selection.

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) - 17May2015 & 08Jun2019

Update: here is a nicer set of pictures from Wrightsville Beach where they nest on the south end.

Cornell: "A graceful, black-and-white waterbird, the Common Tern is the most widespread tern in North America. It can be seen plunging from the air into water to catch small fish along rivers, lakes, and oceans."

This first picture is from Topsail Beach back in the days of my old crappy lens.  However, get close enough and almost any camera can take a decent pic.

This below pic is from a recent Pelagic.  I like it for the moody colors.

Finally a picture of an immature bird at the north end of Wrightsville Beach in August 2016.

Cory's Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) - 21May2017

A frequent sight on NC Pelagics off Hatteras, the Cory's Shearwater is easy to ID when you can see the yellow bill, but even at great distances they can be IDed based on their size, lazy wing beats and high arcing flight patterns. Edit from 2025: Cory's was split into two species with the first retaining the original name and the second being Scopoli's Shearwater which has a different plumage pattern in the "hands".  The ones photographed below all lack the extension of white into the hands so they are Cory's.

Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) - 13May2016

Per Cornell: The all-blue male Indigo Bunting sings with cheerful gusto and looks like a scrap of sky with wings. Sometimes nicknamed "blue canaries," these brilliantly colored yet common and widespread birds whistle their bouncy songs through the late spring and summer all over eastern North America. Look for Indigo Buntings in weedy fields and shrubby areas near trees, singing from dawn to dusk atop the tallest perch in sight or foraging for seeds and insects in low vegetation.

Female at Fort Fisher Ferry Terminal.

Male at Howell Woods, NC

Male in Wilmington, NC

Alder Flycatcher (Empidonax alnorum) - 27May2017

Per Cornell:

• The Alder Flycatcher is so similar to the Willow Flycatcher that they were thought to be the same species. Song is the only definitive way to tell them apart. However, measurements of crown color with a colorimeter, together with other measures of wing shape, bill and tail, may be able to distinguish birds in the hand that are not calling.

Luckily the below bird was singing it's rreeBEEa song.  On breeding territory at Meat Camp ESA near Boone, NC.  There were Willows nearby too but this one bird was the most cooperative for photos.

Here is the link for a cool article about Willow and Alder songs and how they are believed to be innate and not learned.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/4086218?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius) - 08Mar2016

These denizens of North Carolina prefer the coast in the winter and the mountains in the spring and summer.  Almost any bird with well defined "spectacles" are guaranteed to look cool.  Combine that with the winning color scheme and inquisitive nature of the Blue-headed Vireo and you have yourself  one of the Carolina favorites.

Mottled Duck (Anas fulvigula) - 01Jun2017 & 21Oct2017 & 14Nov2020

Per Audubon website: "A close relative of the Mallard, the Mottled Duck is the only dabbling duck specialized for nesting in southern marshes, far to the south of most of its relatives. Unlike most waterfowl, Mottled Ducks are almost never seen in large flocks, generally traveling in pairs or small groups. A major threat to their survival is the release of numerous pet Mallards in Florida and elsewhere in southeast; these feral birds interbreed with Mottled Ducks, diluting the wild population of the latter."

Update 14Nov2020:  This Mottled showed up and ticked all the boxes for a pure bird with no Mallard parentage.

Nice buffy highlights, all yellow bill with a gape spot and the black eyeline does not extend to nape.

Tail had buffy tones too.  Mallards have white highlights.

Leading edge to speculum with no white border.

Here is one from the Lower Rio Grande Valley at South Padre Island in Oct 2017.

This particular bird was found in the marsh by itself at Fort Fisher Spit.

Buffy face and markings on body, lack of white tail feathers, clean unmarked bill and spot on gape all point to Mottled Duck with no evidence of hybridization.

Nice clean white underwings.

Blue speculum feathers with no white borders.