reTern to South Pelican Island (24Jun2014)

On Sunday I met John Fussell and friends for some birding at North River Farms.  We had loads of good birds including Dickcissel, Bobwhite, Nighthawks, Chat, Prairie Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Black-necked Stilt and a Great Horned Owl.  However these are all birds I already have for my photographic big year.

Northern Bobwhite.

So now its Tuesday and although its a work day, at about noon I noticed the wind was somewhat calm and the tide would be low at about 1:30.  So I finished up a few important things and jumped into my truck with the kayak in the bed.  I made it to Ft. Fisher at about 1:30 and although the tide was supposed to be low already I thought I would chance the trip as I have heard the river keeps emptying for an hour after the low.  However by the time I got 100 yards out into the river, the wind picked up and it was slow going and a little scary since I don't have a skirt on my kayak and some of the waves were breaking over the top.  It took quite some time but I finally made it to the island.  I had to beach the kayak because my camera was in the bulkhead but I chose a spot that did not have any chicks so as not to disturb any of the young or nesting birds.  I was really deflated after scanning all the grass and not finding the tern.  So I just moved over about 10 feet along the shore and tried again, scanning every inch.  Bingo!!!!

Sooty Tern - Heavily cropped, I did not want to get too close since he was in the midst of the Royal Tern nest site.  Note fairly wide white forehead.  The Bridled Tern has a more thin forehead.

He never really left the cover of the grass so none of my shots were great.  Also I stayed by the shore line as I did not want to disturb the birds.

Here you can see the very dark back and wings.  Also note the fuzzy Laughing Gull chicks and Royal Tern Chick.

Siamese Twins.

A shot to show perspective. This is using a 300mm at full zoom from the water.

Well I had to get back to work and as luck would have it the wind died and the paddle back was easy as pie.  It helped that I bagged a year bird and life bird at the same time.

Great times.

Pewee's Big Adventure (20-21Jun2014)

Yesterday my internet went down so I took the opportunity to go do some birding in the afternoon.  First stop was Airlie Gardens.  Nothing out of the ordinary.

Anhinga.

Next stop was the retention ponds in Marsh Oaks where BB Whistling Ducks have been seen recently.
No luck on the ducks, but I got a Mississippi Kits carrying nesting material.

My final destination was Holly Shelter to get a picture of a Eastern Wood Pewee, but just before I got there it started pouring and thundering.  So instead I decided to try for Kites again at Lock and Dam 1.  As I headed West I gave Greg a call and he told me if I needed a Pewee I should head to a specific spot on Governor's Rd where he knows they breed every year.  So off I went and just as Greg said, the birds were there waiting for me.

Eastern Wood Pewee - have to love their mournful song.

Last stop for the day was to try for a Least Bittern at Fish Factory Rd in Southport. No luck there but I did see an interesting Little Blue Heron in an in between molt.

Little Blue Heron - In between Blue and White phase.  Shame the picture did not come out good.  The light was fading fast.

Today I took my Kayak down to assess the conditions down at Ft. Fisher for a possible outing to the Sooty Tern Island (South Pelican Island) in the middle of the Cape Fear River.  Unfortunately as I feared the wind was too strong and there was white caps.  So as a consolation I took a paddle over to Zeke's Island and explored a bit.  Nothing out of the ordinary.

Tricolored Heron.

Its getting increasingly difficult to get new birds.

I did learn yesterday that I will need to go to Portugal for work in November.  I should have no problem getting some new birds there.

Cheers.

It's not my Tern.... yet....(18Jun2014)

Spoiler Alert - This story has the makings of a classic Alley-oop tale, the only difference is I did not get the bird.

After Derb's post yesterday about a Sooty Tern on an island in the mouth of the Cape Fear Delta, I decided I would kayak out and give it a shot.  I have been meaning to try birding these islands for some time but it is hard to get motivated when you hear stories of the notoriously dangerous waters of the lower Cape Fear.  My Kayak is pretty long and seaworthy but I don't have a skirt for it so if I roll it I am screwed.

So after checking the tide charts I decided I would go first thing in the morning and take the outgoing tide to the island which is 2/3 of the way to the Southport ferry terminal from the Ft. Fisher side.  The island is just barely visible from the Rocks at Ft. Fisher so I imagine it is pretty far.  In fact the ferry takes 35 minutes to cross so that can give you an idea of how long it takes for a Kayak to cover the same distance.  I think it took about 1 hour to paddle over, maybe less with the tide ripping out to sea.

Long story short, I made it out there and scoured the edges of the island.  I did not want to disrupt the nesting birds so I didn't go any further then 10 feet from the shore which was well below the high tide mark.  The Sooty Tern was no where to be found, which is probably expected first thing in the morning, as it probably was out hunting for fish.

However, I did see hundreds of Royal Terns, Sandwich Terns, 3 Common Terns and loads of Laughing Gulls, Pelicans and Oystercatcher.  All the above with exception of Common Terns appear to be breeding on island with fledged chicks.

Laughing Gull Chick.

Royal Tern Breeding Colony.

The gull on the left had me scrutinizing it b/c it was way smaller than the other Laughing Gulls.  Initially it was standing in front of the other and it was absolutely dwarfed.  Also the coloration was different in legs and bill.  The bigger gulls had a more red bill and legs.  However, after looking at the pictures I think its just a "runt".

Brown Pelican - poor quality photo b/c I am trying to keep still on my kayak but the waves were conspiring against me.  The colors on these bad boys were amazing.

I tried to find a Sooty among all the Sandwich but nothing stuck out to me.

I will have to try again soon.  The paddle back was somehow much longer, despite the wind to my back.  Maybe the current hadn't really started coming in strong yet as I had planned.  Oh and I had a shark next to the island in only 4-5 feet of water.  Looked to be a Bull Shark, pretty big fin.  I had already stowed my camera.

It terns (yeah I know) out that Harry Sell was shooting the island from the ferry and he got a picture of this strange bird.  It remains unidentified at this point.  However, we think it might be a Booby of some sort.

If I knew someone was snapping pics I would have sat up straight and maybe shaved first.


Great Times!

Monkey Business (13Jun2014)

Hello birders,

After work I had to decompress so I decided to head out to Brunswick county and bag myself some Monk Parakeets.  Sam Cooper found out about some nesting Monk Parakeets over in Brunswick County and Harry Sell located them.
I found the nest immediately, you really can't miss it. I have seen these out west and the nest was like the others I have seen.

So I just posted up and waited and then I heard them.

Or rather they heard me and poked out their heads and started squawking at me.

Not countable per ABA but they sure as heck work for my big year since I make the rules and if an exotic is nesting its good for me.

Next I tried for Swallow-tailed Kites at Lock and Dam but they didn't show up.

I saw Derb's post about Black-bellied Whistling Ducks at Marsh Oaks so I jammed over their and tried but I couldn't find them. Some lady was was feeding the Canada Geese so I asked her and she said there was two of them on the retention pond two days ago.  Oh well, maybe they will show up later.

Last stop was Wrightsville Beach.  Sam Cooper told me about a Common Nighthawk that has been seen and heard over at the South end.  It was a week ago that he told me so I was not sure I would see him, but luck would have it he was still there.

In fact he was making a racket and when I walked over to where he was he dive bombed me and sonic boomed literally 2 feet above my head.  He repeated this three times, I have never seen them get aggressive like that.  I tried to video him but he stopped dive bombing.

Thanks Sam!

Work Trip to RTP (10-12Jun2014)

I had to go to RTP for an audit this week which is usually bad news but on Wednesday I got an email through the list serv (Carolinabirds) from Ryan Justice that he had a Grasshopper Sparrow at Inwood Rd.  Well I knew that Ryan's word was bond.  He showed his skills at the CBC pointing out many birds before the group leader could and he good ears for songs. So as soon as I got out of the audit I headed down and was not disappointed.

Grasshopper Sparrow - large bill, rufous spots on back, buffy unmarked breast and dark spot on auriculars.

Median crown stripe.

He was singing like crazy but its a frequency I can barely hear.

This Eastern Meadowlark I could hear.

Thanks Ryan!

Jackpot (07-08Jun2014)

Hello Birders,

What an amazing weekend of birding!  I was getting sick of seeing all the pelagic species show up on my email alert so I sweet talked the wife into letting me go for a trip this past weekend and boy did it pay off.  Sorry for posting late but work hit me like a ton of bricks on Monday.

The weekend started out with a trip to Bear Island at Hammocks State Park to get the reported Roseate Spoonbill.  The plan was to get that real quick and then sprint up to Cedar Island to get the ferry to Okracoke.  What I didn't know was that it was military appreciation day and Bear Island was a zoo.  The lady at the ferry said she could not get me on the next couple ferries so it would make me miss my Cedar Island Ferry.  Luckily a ranger noticed me there and the dejected look on my face and told me they had room for one more on the ferry just leaving.  So I jumped on and headed over to Bear Island.  What a gorgeous place!  Once on land I asked the first ranger I saw and he knew just where the bird was which happened to be 2 miles down the beach by Bogue Inlet.  I started to run.  If I was going to make the last ferry to Cedar Island I would have to make this a quick find.  Luckily the bird was right there and I even was able to screw my Canon Rebel onto a nice guy named Sam's 500mm high end lens.

Black scoters were everywhere!  On the beach, in the water, what a distraction!

Roseate Spoonbill- what else?  Apparently this bird comes here every year.  I don't remember it last year but I guess I was not paying as much attention as I am this year.

There was beach goers everywhere but the bird just stood there.  Most of the people were completely oblivious to the big pink bird.  It's mid boggling that to most people it's just another bird.

Royal Tern.

It was close, but I made the Cedar Island Ferry and got to Okracoke in time for a beautiful evening and some tasty street tacos from Eduardo's Taco Stand.  After fueling up, I hopped one of the last ferries to Hatteras and made it completely exhausted at about ten.  It was too late to hunt for a camp site or motel so I just pulled into the ferry parking lot and slept in the car albeit fitfully.

Next morning dawned a beautiful day with just a hint of wind which made the ride out to the Gulf Stream on the Stormy Petrel (Patteson Pelagics) enjoyable. We were a little worried that the lack of wind would mean the pelagic species wouldn't be on the move and although it was somewhat true for the Storm Petrel numbers we had plenty of tube noses.  Apparently storm petrels have a tough time finding the chum slick when there is not enough wind to carry the scent.

A little disclosure here, I am pathetic when it comes to identifying pelagic species so if I get something wrong, feel free to reach out.

Bad picture of a Cory's Shearwater, but check out the Mahi Mahi in bottom right of frame.  I had no idea until I looked at the pics when I got home.  Too bad, we would have probably thrown out the lines.  We also saw a Marlin or other billfish going crazy with bait fish.

Long-tailed Jaeger - dark morph.  We had about 7-8 of long-tails throughout the day.

Then we hit the jackpot!  Jeff shouted "high fliers" or something like that and then he said "tropic birds".  It's a good trip if you get a Tropicbird, but pretty much unheard of to get two hanging out together.  After a couple fly by looks Brian P confirmed it was 2 different species!  White-tailed Tropicbird and Red-billed Tropicbird.

Red-billed Tropicbird- juvenile bird.  Apparently the bill and tail are not the best indicators because all of them can have long white tails, and the bill color doesn't help much because juvenile Red-bills have orange bills like the one above.  Brian noticed the back patterning which was heavier and darker on the Red-billed.

White-tailed Tropicbird- looks like a no brainier due to the tail but what sealed the deal is this bird is obviously an adult and had an orange bill.  An adult Red-bill would have a ..... You guessed it, red bill.

This picture shows nicely the black primary coverts which are only present on the Red-bill.  The White-tail has the black markings further towards the tips.

This picture shows how the eye marking almost meets on the nape which is another diagnostic for Red-billed.

The curious thing in this picture is the black tipped tail feathers, I did not see that on pictures I researched online.

White-tailed beauty!

Another Long-tailed Jaeger- this one is a light morph.

Wilson's Storm Petrel - notice the legs project past tail.

Another Long-tailed Jaeger

Great Shearwater - the most common shearwater of the day and also the most bold.  They would fly right next to the boat.

Great Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater - clean white under wing.

Arctic Tern - yet another year bird!

Arctic Tern - daintier bill than Common Tern and longer tail.

Here you can see fairly uniform gray on upper wing, most Common Terns would show some dark in Primaries.

Great Shearwater

Another Arctic Tern visited us later, looks like maybe a different bird.

Cory's Shearwater - see yellow bill.

Leach's I think - you can see carpal bar reaching top of left wing.  Also the white rump does not extend far on sides.  We saw several Leach's but its hard to ID them from pictures.  The best way to ID these birds is to observe the flight "jizz".  Leach's flight has been described as similar to a nighthawk.

Bad picture so I am not claiming it but I think this is the Band-rumped we saw.  Any dissenters? Or anyone agree?

Another Jaeger?  Damn trash birds.  Wait.... This one is a Pomarine!  Another year bird.

Pomarine Jaeger -you can barely see the twisted lobular tail feather.

Jaegers are so cool.

Pomarine Jaeger - This picture shows tail better and note that head projects further than on Long-tailed.

Great Shearwater

Leach's Storm Petrel again I think, the tail has a fairly deep notch.

Horrible pic, but here you can see the carpal bar reaching the leading edge of the wing.

Yet another Long-tailed Jaeger. Unfortunate that none of them were adults with fully developed tails.

We had one Jaeger that we thought was a Parasitic but upon close inspection the experts on the boat decided it was another Long-tail.

Common Tern - note sturdier bill than Arctic.

Here you can see the more defined black edging on primaries.

This group of Cory's Shearwaters were hanging out with an Audubon's Shearwater.  The Audubon is the smaller bird.

The wingspan difference is quite pronounced between the two species.

                                                  Great Shearwater.

Cory's Shearwater.

Another Arctic I think, although I could be wrong.

Cory's - no brainer when you see the bill.

Black-capped Petrel - what an amazing flier.

This black-capped was in a serious molt or had serious feather wear.

Great Shearwater.

Wilson's Storm Petrel.

Black-Capped.

Wilson's again, see legs dangling.

Audubon's Shearwater.

Manx Shearwater - note white vent.

Overall a darker bird than an Audobon's and shorter tailed.

Common Tern.

Kate spotted this Sooty Shearwater!

Life bird for me.

All and all an amazing trip with 12 year birds and a handful of lifers.

After we got back to shore, I fought my exhaustion and went to look for the Brant that has been reported on North Pond.  I was really frustrated not to find it but had a consolation prize.

Dunlin still hanging around?  This guy only had one leg.

I had two separate birds that I thought were Long-billed Dowitchers mixed in with a bunch of Short-billed.  The one above on right had dark bars on tail averaging wider than the right.  It was also much more rufous or rust colored than the other birds.

Although size is not a great diagnostic, this bird just appeared quite larger than the surrounding birds and the breast was very rusty.

I stopped at Bodie Island to try for Least Bittern or Virginia Rail but no luck.

I stopped at Terra Ciea on way home to try for Barn Owls with no luck.

I somehow managed to get home in one piece despite almost falling asleep at the wheel a number of times.

Monday Harry wanted to try the Ft. Fisher spit and I couldn't bear the thought of him finding a rarity without me so I met him there bright and early.  Well we did have an interesting gull.

In the winter we would have had no problem calling this a Lesser Black-backed Gull but in summer they shouldn't be here.  However, thats what it was.  Yellow Legs and all.

Great times!