Local Birds with the family (23Feb2014)

On the way to Luke's soccer game today, I drove by the retention pond on Shipyard Blvd like I always do in hopes for a Cackling Goose among all the Canada Geese.  No such luck but got a couple easy birds to add to the big year effort.

Ring-necked Duck - not sure why they call this duck a Ring-necked, they should call it Ring-Billed Duck due to the white band on the bill tip.

American Crow - it was standing next to a Ring-Billed Gull and was about the same size.  A Fish Crow would have generally been smaller.  Also this ones legs are longer than your typical Fish Crow. But the definitive diagnostic was the typical crow call.  A fish crow has a different sound and also when you hear the two-note call you know its a Fish Crow.  Fish Crows also have a longer tail and wings. They say Corvids are the smartest birds.  In fact Nature did a great special on Crows.  Apparently they can recognize human faces and will sound alarm calls for a specific human that they know has done them wrong once before.  There are Corvids in SouthEast Asia that have learned to use tools and can problem solve using multiple steps.

After Luke's game, I took the family to Burnt Mill Creek for a walk and some birding.  Burnt Mill Creek is a great creekside trail near down town Wilmington that a lot of Wilmingtonians don't know about.  Amy and Kevin McLane turned me onto this spot a couple years ago with their posting of Barred Owls sitting in the trees overlooking the creek. Good people and great place!  The creek is a little polluted but otherwise the scene is idyllic.  Huge Bald Cypresses and other hard woods line the creek and the birds love it.  I was hoping for a Purple Finch as this is where I saw them last year.  But as is usually the case you end up seeing something other than what you are looking for.

Brown Creeper - Luke found this elusive little bird. Last year I only saw a handful of these birds and the Redbuds are already blooming here so my winter birds will be headed to higher elevation or farther north soon.  Of course George's (younger son) favorite joke is "Dad I see a Brown Creeper, it's coming out of your butt".  Anyway apparently he got his mother's sense of humor, it definitely was not from me.

Pied-billed Grebe - I love these birds for the way they can submerge without diving.  They literally just sink into the water like a submarine.

I got carried away with this pair because the water reflection looked cool.

Finally I thought why not end the day with a bang and took a walk to Amy and Kevin's to see if they were outside.  Amy was enjoying the beautiful day doing some yard work and graciously invited us to wait on their resident Rufous Hummingbird which has been around since November.  It took a little while and I was getting nervous that the kids would break something, but before long "Mary" made her appearance.  Only Mary is getting quite colorful including some rufous starting to show on her back.  So as Amy suggested she might have to start calling her Murray or Maury.  I think Susan might be around to confirm soon, but in my opinion this is definitely a Rufous and not an Allen's due to some rufous on back.

Rufous Hummingbird.