Failure Never felt so Good (18-20Apr2015)

Although I have been unable to add any year birds the past several days, the birding has been good.

Blue-winged Teal at Ft. Fisher Spit.  Do they breed in NC?  Or just a late pair?

Barn Swallow - swallows are notoriously difficult to photograph in flight so I will take this image.

Gull-billed Tern with 100 of his closest friends.

Whimbrels are pretty common on the spit.  Harry S will always check them for a vagrant Eurasian Whimbrel but I have to admit that I am a bad about dismissing birds for the first impression, I need to get better about this so I don't miss any potential rarities.

As I was ogling this Whimbrel, I got a call from S Cooper.  A Glaucous was sitting on Wrightsville beach eating Cheez Puffs from a kid.  I put my truck in gear and high-tailed it over as fast as I could picking up Sherry on the way.  As we were stuck in traffic coming over onto the island, it started to pour rain.  Long story short the gull was gone by the time we got there.

These Royal Terns and many others were having some fun while waiting for the rain to pass.

I speak Sandwichese and I could here them saying "get a room" to their exhibitionist neighbors.

When I saw this bird my heart skipped a beat and I immediately thought LITTLE GULL!!  But then I saw this bird was about the same size as nearby Bonaparte Gulls.

The full hood and blood red legs had my really scrutinizing him.  See the difference between the light pink of the left Bonaparte and the bright red of the breeding Boney.

Carolina Wren was happy when the rain moved through.

On the South end of WB even the Common Loons were sporting breeding plumage.

This poor Red-throated Loon appeared to only have one leg, which is not good for a diving bird.

Man-o-wars littered the beach.  I think I will wait a bit before I go surfing again.

Royal Tern

This morning I went back out to look for the Glaucous.  No Luck again.

This Laughing Gull was yukking it up "Hahahahahahah you are doomed to never see a Glaucous in NC but I see them all the time... Sucker...."

This Wilson's Plover was in full stealth mode.  He thinks I did not see him.  Now if I can just figure out how to find the big old white Glaucous.  It seems he should have an even harder time hiding.

Cheers.

Mystery Bird Revealed (21Feb2015)

Some of my faithful readers may remember back in February when I mentioned a mystery bird that I would reveal at a later date.  The reason was that the home owners wanted to keep the bird under wraps so they would not have tons of random strangers like me asking to come over, and I totally get that. Several people in the area (Charlotte) had reported this bird early in the winter and it had not been reported for a while but luckily when I checked in with the homeowners through a mutual friend they were very gracious and let me come over.

Without further ado....

Calliope Hummingbird - a vagrant from out West that will rarely show up. I think one has come to the Charlotte area for several years now.

What a beauty!

Very distinctive gorget.

By the way, in case your wondering, the bird has been gone for several weeks.

Thanks to the homeowners!!

Cheers.

Howell Woodstock (18Apr2015)

Sherry, Mary and I took a very early morning excursion to Howell Woods today.  We pulled into the parking lot at first light and were dismayed to see a Road Closed sign blocking the road.  Well we were not about to turn around after a hour and a half drive and it looked quiet so we went around and parked in the normal lot.

The birds were singing like crazy all over the place and we had fun trying to identify by song.

Swainson's Warbler - very distinct song.  This bird was perched very close above our heads but the light was still very bad hence the bad photo.  However a Swainson's Warbler even in silhouette is easy to ID.  Note long bill, wide under tail coverts and short tail projection.

Prothonotary Warbler

Then on Plantation Rd we had the best bird of the day....

Kentucky Warbler

Unfortunately none of my photos today were half decent.  Poor light and lots of vegetation did not help.

Yellow-throated Vireo - he was very actively feeding on grubs and other tid bits and would not stay still.

Another Yellow-throated Vireo shot.  Surprisingly we had no Red-eyed or Blue-headed.

Palm Warbler

Breeding plumaged Yellow-rumped Warbler

Indigo Buntings were back in their usual spots.

When we got back to the parking lot shortly before noon, I was a little alarmed to see a festival literally forming around my parked truck.  now I could clearly see what the Road Closed sign was about.  It's a good thing they did not call the tow truck.  It turns out today was "Howell Woodstock".  We did not linger long because I thought it would be awkward if people started getting naked and dropping LSD although maybe it would have helped increase the bird count.

Back at the feeders I was hoping for at least one nuthatch but only this Brown-headed Cowbird was around.

All in all it was a good morning.  We had 11-12 species of warbler several "FOY" birds.

Good times.

Let the Identification Problems Begin (16Apr2015)

What a good time to be alive.  The birds are really moving through now.  Monday evening I went to Ft. Fisher and CB State Park at dark to look for Nightjars.  I did hear a Chuck but it was off in distance.

This clapper was literally walking around my feet.  Never seen one so bold.

Dunlin

Sandwich Tern

Royal Tern and Forster's Tern

Tuesday morning was Airlie Gardens.  Great amounts of migrants to be had.  Unfortunately I was distracted by several work calls.

Painted Bunting

At the time of seeing this bird I had no doubt in my mind that it was a Black-throated Green Warbler. However now I see several problems including lack of olive on nape and back.  The eye arc on bottom of eye is much bigger than I am used to on BTGs but Prairie Warblers are always yellow on flanks.  I am calling this a Black-throated Green but would like to hear any dissension.

Update:  I am changing to Prairie based on Derek and Ryan's feedback. The facial pattern is definitive despite the lack of yellow on flanks/belly. Definitely the most washed out Prairie I have seen female or not.

This empidonax flycatcher was dismissed as an Acadian in my mind at the time, but several problems present with this bird too.  I don't see any eye ring but that could be angle of photo.  The primary projection is relatively long but not necessarily as long as I would expect.  Of course he did not vocalize.

Acadian Flycatcher?

Ahhh so nice to not be confused for a change.  Bluebird.

Work schedule is brutal today, hope I can get out later.......

Who Needs Starbucks When I got Lee Bucks (12Apr2015)

What a gorgeous day!!! I made it out early to Lee Bucks Rd in Brunswick County and it was slow going at first and in fact the whole trip was quality and not quantity.  I only got two species of warblers but they were good ones.  I also got one surprise bird.

At the first fields there was Savannah Sparrows and this Eastern Kingbird.

Summer Tanager - I made it all the way to the Railroad Xing without any other birds until I heard this beauty singing loud and clear, even for a half deaf guy like me.

Then as I was ogling the Summer Tanager, this guy swooped in over the tree line and I was able to snap a few pics.

Broad-winged Hawk

Here is the nice tail band showing.

I ran into Derb C on Lee Bucks and he said he was going to look for Worm-eating Warblers.  I told him I did not hear any in the usual spots which I already passed.  Then I went on my merry way and took a left on Governor's Rd.  That's when I heard the call of a Worm-eating.......

Worm-eating Warbler - I should have went to get Derb, but I had to start making my way out.

At the black river crossing on Governor's Rd I stopped at the little bridge and was instantly serenaded by this handsome devil.

Prothonotary Warbler

Another warbler I have no trouble hearing, especially when 15 feet away.

The rest of the day was spent working in the yard.  I planted a bunch of veggies and pulled all the weeds from my salvia beds.  Some of the salvias are starting to show some life, but I fear many have succumbed to the cold winter.  My Bottlebrush shrub/tree looks completely dead.  I hope it springs back to life.

Cheers.