Baby Screech (27-28May2014)

The past few days before and after work I have been trying hard to get some birds that have been seen over the past week in the Ft. Fisher area.  A Gray Kingbird and Bank Swallows.  This hunt mostly consisted of driving around and looking at telephone wires or snags.  The first day turned up empty so I decided to console myself with seeing the Purple Gallinule at the Aquarium pond and looking for shorebirds at the "rocks".

Willet - this bird was so heavily patterned that I almost thought it was something better like a godwit of some sort.

Purple Gallinule - this bird would normally be an amazing find but I had just seen one a month ago on the OBX.  It was on the far side of the pond hence the heavily cropped photo.

The second day I also dipped on target birds, so I decided to go to Carolina Beach State Park to look for some other goodies.  I got some good looks at some Painted Bunting and then just before packing it up I thought I would check the Owl box near the Marina.  I have checked it several times to no avail over the past several months but this time I saw a bunch of insects circling the hole so I knew this meant something was in there.

After a little while this little guy poked his wobbly head out.

Eastern Screech Owl.

This was a year bird for my photographic big year and boy did I need this to boost my morale.

Great times.