The Big 40 is Coming - 10-15Feb2016

This week I turn 40 years old!  This means I have 10 years before I attempt my real big year.  I put my wife on notice that when I turn 50, I am taking a year off work, buying a Teardrop trailer and heading out for an ABA region big year.  She probably doesn't believe me, but I am doing it....

After the successful Mountain Plover hunt on Tuesday, I had to work the rest of the week but I did manage some local birding before or after work.

Red-Shouldered Hawk at my son's soccer practice.

Common Yellowthroat that almost looks like a Nashville. - Fort Fisher.

Someone posted that there was a bunch of Greater Scaup at Carolina Beach Lake, but they all looked like Lesser Scaup to me.

Cedar Waxwings have to be the coolest looking common bird.

Chipping Sparrow

As I have said before, I will always post Blue-Headed Vireo pictures if I can get them.  Lately I have been getting them everywhere.  This one was at River Rd Park.

Horned Grebe

Saturday was my wife's day and she chose shopping with a friend.  Sunday was my day and I chose more wisely.  A trip to North River Farms with John and Jack.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Any volunteers to count these Green-winged Teal?  We guessed 450 (there was some more outside the frame).

Turkey Vulture

North River specialty - Clay-colored Sparrow.

We tried hard for LeConte's Sparrow but it was windy and cold.

Wilson's Snipe - trying to shoot these with a camera after flushing them is fun but frustrating.  We flushed 40-50 but I only got a few shots.

Swamp Sparrow

On the way home I stopped in Morehead City for a couple specialty birds.

I found a tree with 15 Eurasian Collared Doves.

My buddy the Nanday Parakeet was watching all the church goers coming out.  For those of you that are not familiar with this bird, he is a fixture in Morehead City, literally.  His home was in an old power pole, and one day the power company decided to replace the pole with a metal one.  When the locals found out they had cut the Nanday's home down, there was an uproar.  Long story short, the power company cut a section from the old pole and attached it to the side of the metal one.  Now the Nanday is happy once again.  Apparently he does not mind having no mate of his own species because he rotates a bunch of Starling females in and out of his bachelor pad.  John says on cold nights he can bring in 3-4 Starlings.  Such a stud.

Unfortunately he is not a countable bird because he was an escapee.

Next stop was a small pond on the side of Route 24.  John said there was a bunch of Redheads and since it was't far off the side of the road I took a peak.

There were a few Scaup mixed in but I think they were all Lesser Scaup.

At Nine Mile Rd I turned off 24 and found a spot John said was good for Bachman's and Red-cockaded.  I spent 2 hours stomping around a freshly burned area with no luck.  I mean no luck at all. I couldn't even find anything let alone my targets.  Finally I flushed a Woodcock which was cool but I wasn't fast enough to get a photo.

I was determined so I stopped at Holly Shelter on the way home... It took me about an hour and I finally got my birds!

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

Holly Shelter was nice and quiet.  A few joggers but no guns.

Worst picture ever of a Bachman's Sparrow but good enough for ID. It was getting dark so my sensor was not cooperating.  I will get a better pic later.  I love Holly Shelter and will definitely be back.

Today (Monday) was one of those days where the stars aligned.  I went for an early morning check at Wrightsville Beach and not only did it not rain despite a dismal forecast, but it actually was partially sunny.

30 Purple Sandpipers!

Northern Gannet

My first White-winged Scoters of the year!

Black Scoter

At Johnny Mercer's pier I had another fly by pair of WW Scoters.

Razorbill!!! Year birds were coming easy today.

At Oleander Gardens, nothing new.

This Fish Crow nicely stood next to this urn which I measured.  It was 10 inches, and the Crow never stood higher than the urn.  Also the other crows were making the characteristic two note nasal call of the Fish Crow.  I am not sure I can tell them apart based on wing and leg length.  That is a subtle distinction. I will have to get my American Crow in the mountains were they don't have Fish Crows.  I am not good enough to tell the regular caw call from Fish versus American.

I took a brief lunch break today to check Fort Fisher for the Ross's Geese reported yesterday and Bingo! my luck was continuing.

Ross's Goose

Three years birds on a work day, not bad at all.

This weekend is my B-day treat, a Patteson Pelagic.  Some of the birds seen on the two pelagics that have gone out so far:  Atlantic Puffin, Little Gull, Glaucous Gull, Iceland Gull, Dovekie, Great Skua, Manx Shearwater and Fulmar. I would be a happy man with three of those.

Wednesday I have to head to the Philly area for work and if I can get away for an hour, I will chase the Barnacle Geese that have been hanging out there at FDR Field.

Great times.

"My Caucus is Huge, and Mountain Plovers are Fat and Ugly" (06-09-Feb2016)

Is there anything more entertaining than this primary election cycle?  Yes there is.  The birds I saw this week for example.

I have been walking Burnt Mill Creek with George while Luke is at Soccer practice.

Blue-headed Vireos are always good birds.  This one was at the Burnt Mill Creek Cemetery (Oakdale?).

American Robin - taken for granted?

Saturday we made the trip to the airport to pick up Melissa after she spent a week up North with her Father.  Whew, a week alone with the boys was good bonding but I was getting tired of working all day, doing all the house chores and getting the kids to school and soccer for a week.  A man needs to bird now and again....

ILM is one of the most reliable places in the state for Loggerhead Shrike.

Sunday was my day to bird all day!  I had to pull the plug on attempt #2 for the Mountain Plover because of the weather.  It was 30mph winds and raining all day on the coast.  So naturally I headed inland and got some good birds.

This drake Common Goldeneye has been hanging out in a minuscule pond at Wake Tech.

Brian P let me come over for some Geri-birding.  Brian has a truly good set up and he regularly gets Purple Finches in the winter and Thrushes in the Summer.

Nice comparison between Purple Finch on bottom right and House Finch on upper tier.  The Purple Finch is more of a wine color and the House Finch is a vibrant red.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

White-breasted Nuthatch

Unfortunately I dipped on Greater White-fronted Goose and Nashville Warbler in the RTP area, but that did not dissuade me from heading for my last target which was the Buff-bellied Hummingbird in Winston-Salem.  It took a while for the Buff-belly to show, so I took some photos of common birds in the Connor's back yard while I waited.

Carolina Wren

Pine Warbler

BFFs forever  - Northern Cardinal and White-throated Sparrow

Hermit Thrush

I didn't notice it at the time, but this Downy Woodpecker was banded.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Then he showed and he looked even better than he did 5 months ago.  The colors were more vibrant and all the feathers were fresh and crisp.  Unfortunately he was partially obscured while perched and when he was feeding it was too dark for a crisp pic.

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

I actually kind of like the speed blur pics. Its art!

It took me 2 hours to get these serviceable pictures and then 3 hours to get home so I only missed the first quarter of the Superbowl which ended up being kind of boring anyway.  They shouldn't let the #1 defensive team into the Superbowl, it does not make for good viewing.

Monday I took an early morning walk to the North end of Wrightsville Beach and flushed a couple bitterns which is a first for that area for me.

American Bittern

Finally on Tuesday I had a day off so I could settle a personal score with Mr. Mountain Plover. On the way up in Beaufort I managed to locate the Sandhill Cranes off Hwy 101.

Sandhill Crane - why is it so hard to crush such a big bird?  Its like they know where to go to be off limits to photographers.

One day soon I will find a crushable Sandhill Crane.

I should have taken some pictures of the scene at Sea Level, the town where we launched, but my focus was on birds as is typical and I forgot to take some landscapes.  The boat captain told us that on Sunday winds up to 60 mph were clocked and the flooding was severe.  He was worried that the bird was dead or gone.  When we got over to the inlet, the scene was an amazing contrast to what I saw a couple weeks ago. The sandbars looked completely different, a duck blind was gone and there was debris everywhere.  We had some trouble landing but the captain managed to get us in and it did not take long to find our target......

Mountain Plover!

We did not want to flush him because another boat load was on the way, so we just posted up and waited.  White waiting, the plover moved around quite a bit.

His sandy brown color blended in perfectly with the surroundings.

I don't care what Trump says, Mountain Plovers are not fat and ugly.  They are beautiful!

A shot showing size comparison to a Dunlin.

Farewell you plover of mountains.  I hope you find your way to some idyllic mountain meadow where you can frolic with members of your wonderful species.  Put these frozen beaches behind you.