Sunday I decided to head up to Mattamuskeet with 4 target birds in mind: Great Horned Owl, White-faced Ibis, King Rail and Barn Owl. The first two I knew were good odds since Susan Campbell posted them last week and you can take her posts to the bank. The King Rail was a long shot but I wanted to get a real King, not the Clings I have been seeing at the Battleship. Maybe there are Kings there but I have not seen them. The last was a target for dusk on the way home I would pass through Terra Ceia Rd where Barn Owls have been seen regularly.
The impoundments at the entrance were surprising empty, I know water fowl has mostly moved on but it was eerily quiet. Some American Black Ducks, a couple Mallards, some Gadwall and a bunch of Coots. First stop was the Great Horned Owl nestling that Susan so graciously disclosed the whereabouts. She gave me impeccable directions but I still struggled to find it. I was looking for a stick nest and neglected to look in this Jessamine clump. I was about to give up and saw a little movement out of the corner of my eye.
Can you see this Great Horned Owl nestling in the middle of picture? Pretty well camouflaged.
Next stop was the impoundments with the Glossy and White-faced Ibis. I found a large flock of about 30 birds but I had no cover and the birds flushed before I could get a good look.
Glossy Ibis.
This Black-necked Stilt was not skittish. There were plenty of shorebirds too. Mostly Yellowlegs. I thought I had a Solitary Sandpiper but was not sure so I did not record it and it was too far for photos.
These Horned Grebe are coming into their breeding plumage quite nicely.
Anyway, after about 45 minutes of sitting in a ball at the edge of the impoundment I got some passable recording shots of the Glossy and White-faced Ibis and what I think are also some hybrids. I would have gotten some much better pics because the birds were working their way to me but some fisherman with a Diesel Truck came barreling down the dyke and flushed them again.
This shot is not great, but it does show nicely the facial differences between the two species. On the left you have a Glossy which has a bluish base to the bill with black orbital skin surrounding the bill base. On the right, you have red orbital skin and you can almost see the red iris. This bird did not have much white plumage around the red orbital skin, which could indicate it is a hybrid Glossy/White-faced or it could just be a "drab adult".
Ok this photo sucks, as it is heavily cropped but it shows a couple nice things. There is at least two birds here with some red skin on face, the one in the middle and the one all the way to the right. Both these birds also show a more bronze hue to wing tips. Also, this picture does not show it very well, but with my binoculars I could definitely see that the White-faced had reddish legs.
On my way to the impoundments on the East side of the lake, I saw an interesting Hawk that will remain unidentified unless one of you readers can help. It was flying over the dry impoundments and was definitely not a Harrier or a Short-eared Owl. It did not have the dark shoulders of a Red-Tailed Hawk although this picture was after I had stared with my binocs and by the time I thought to take a picture the bird was almost gone over the tree line. The underwing pattern was nothing like a Red-shouldered Hawk. And those are the four species I would have thought could reasonably have been there. I eliminated any of the falcons and accipiters. So I think I have something interesting. However, after studying my Sibley's there is nothing that sticks out to me. Any ideas from this horrid photo?
Surprisingly I found another White-faced all the way over to East side of lake. Highly unlikely that this was the same group.
You can barely see the red skin on right hand bird. However, the more bronze hue on wing tips I think is noticeable.
This one actually had a decent whitish border to red skin.
Side view of same bird. I felt fairly comfortable that this was a White-faced and not some hybrid.
After looking for King Rails in the Phragmites on the East side of the lake I thought I would check on the owl again. This time mommy or daddy was around.
Great Horned Owl.
Great Horned Owl nestling.
At about 5pm I headed to Terra Ceia to try for the Barn Owls. I found the old run down structure across from the school and stayed until 7:45pm but no luck. It was cold and started to drizzle and I knew I would not get a picture in the darkness, so I left a little disappointed.
However, in the end, 2 out 4 is not bad.
Great times. Now back to work. =(
