GBBC (16Feb2014)

This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count which is not really notable for me since I bird almost every day anyway.  However in the spirit of the GBBC I birded extra hard today.

I started out drinking my coffee an feeder watching in my yard.

                                                    Carolina Wren.

Then I headed to Greenfield Lake with the boys while Melissa did her marathon training.  I tried to keep the boys busy by making them toy guns out of the sticks laying around from the ice storm last week.  There was trees and branches down everywhere.

                                    Northern Shoveler - so named for the huge bill.

I usually only see Lesser Scaup but yesterday I saw only Greater Scaup at Airlie and today I saw only Greater Scaup at Greenfield.

                                                    Northern Cardinal.

Downy Woodpecker - smaller of the two woodpeckers in this area that have a white stripe in center of back.  Hard to tell from this pic, but bill is proportionally smaller than Hairy WP.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - White bar on wing, red beard and yellowish or at least dirty belly.

American Coot with Gadwall in background - My Dad told me the best recipe for coot.  You put them in a pot of boiling water and throw in two bricks.  After three days of cooking, throw the coots out and eat the bricks.

Barnacle Goose x Canada Goose Hybrid - I will not include this on my list because it is introduced but a cool bird none the less.  Apparently someone introduced Barnacle Geese at Greenfield back in the 50's but they all died off with the exception of some that bred with local Canada Geese.

Mallard - despite this being the most common duck in city parks, it is a gorgeous bird.

After a nice lunch with the family the Crepe place on Oleander, I loaded up the Kayak and headed to Masonboro Island via the South end of Wrightsville Beach.  The weather was perfect, cold enough to keep the hoards at bay and the boat wakes to a minimum.  I have been meaning to explore the South Jetty to see if I could find a Common Eider or other rarities.  I did not get an eider but I did get a bunch of other good birds.

Common Loon - I had a couple loons that looked good for a Pacific Loon but none of them were photogenic and none of them had a good "chin strap" so I am holding out for a better one.  The one pictured above was obviously a Common Loon as you can see the white necklace.

Juvenile or female White-winged Scoter - these were all over the place and walking along the Jetty provided great looks.

Daddy White-winged Scoter.

Purple Sandpiper - if you don't mind walking the rocks on the Jetty you can get great looks at tons of these.  In this picture.

Surf Scoter - You can just barely see the white starting to show on back of neck.

Long-tailed Duck - This year has been incredible for cold water species showing up.

This little family flew in towards the very end of the Jetty, they were surprised to see me out there.

Horned Grebe - You have to be careful to always check these birds to make sure it is not the rarity Eared Grebe.

Great Cormorant - this is the large and fairly rare (for Wilmington at least) cousin of the Double-crested Cormorant.  Notice the white patch under wing and the white chin patch.

Iceland Gull on left - This is the second time in two weeks I have seen this species which is fairly rare here.  Note completely white wing tips.  Slightly smaller than nearby Herring Gulls.  All black bill.

My 38th B-day is in a couple days.  I am taking Friday off and going on a Pelagic with Brain Patteson. I can't wait!  I just hope its not too cold, rainy or wavy.

Great times!