Buff-breasted Sasquatch (16Aug2014)

If you are a photography buff and hate bad pictures, don't read this post.  I took hundreds of photos yesterday and most of them are reminiscent of blurry Sasquatch photos.  However, I did get some diagnostic shots of a new year bird that has been a long time coming.

I started out the day a little late as Melissa had to get her run in.  My plan was to try the Beargrass Voice of America site in Washington County for breeding Henslow's Sparrows and then if I dipped on that I would console myself with the Buff-breasted Sandpipers at American Turf Farms and then finally the cherry on top would be a long shot - audio of a Whip-poor-will from Catfish Lake in the Croatan.  I make the rules for my year and I say audio is ok.  At this point I am desperate because whips are probably all gone.  I think I might have heard one on Governor's Rd in Brunswick County several months ago but I thought surely I would get another later so I didn't try to record.  Plus there was 50 Chucks doing their best to drown him out.

Well I finally got to the VOA site it was close to 2pm.  What a weird place.  Its a huge tract of land with a broadcasting station in the middle.  I guess at one point the VOA was the government news broadcasting tool and had sites across America including South America.  Well now the only one in the US that still operates is the one in Bear Grass, NC.  The great thing about it is that the habitat is great for certain species of sparrow and specifically my target the Henslow's Sparrow.  Henslow's like wet grassy meadows with plenty of weedy growth in which to hide.  They are very difficult to see because they skulk in the undergrowth and rarely perch in sight except when singing in Spring.  I was going in the hope that I could find a spot where I could walk around a bit and flush one out or maybe find a foolish youngster that would show him/herself.  However, pretty much everything was conspiring against me.  It was over 90 degrees with no shelter from the sun and the whole property is fenced with No Trespassing signs.  I tried some playback from the fringes and especially at a wet area near Horse Pen creek but nothing of interest showed.  I did see an Eastern Wood Pewee and some other of the usual suspects.  John F had told me about a location at the southern VOA site which was about 45 minutes away and in hindsight I should have gone there first.  I decided instead of going there I would push on to American Turf Farms and go for a sure bet in the Buff-breasted and if I had time I would go to the second VOA site on the way back.

The American Turf Farms for the uninitiated are near Creswell, NC right off the 64 highway and is a shorebirder's paradise.  I have been going to Oakland Plantation in Columbus County for the past month trying to get Buff-breasted SPs among other species and now I can honestly say that spot pales in comparison.  American Turf Farms has 20x more birds and is a ton more birder friendly in terms of viewing options.  I have to say that one of my least favorite things about birding is using a scope.  That probably is because my scope stinks, but also I like to be on the move and I don't like the way a scope restricts that.  Plus if I can't take a picture with my camera then the bird is just too far for me.  So sod farm birding is not my favorite thing to do.  However, if I want a Buff-breasted SP its a necessary evil.  Although I was primarily looking for Buff-breasted SPs, my eye was caught by a bunch of other birds.

There were literally hundreds of Pectorals, Peeps of at least two species, Yellowlegs, BB Plovers, SP Plovers and even some Ruddy Turnstones.  I also heard and saw several Horned Larks despite my bad hearing.

That's when this little guy caught my eye.  Now keep in mind these pics are heavily cropped.  He was bigger than nearby peeps but smaller than the Pectorals in the picture.  His wings appeared to be longer than his tail which made him interesting, but he did not have the streaking or defined supercilium that a White-rumped would be expected to have.

Unidentified shorebird with 2 Pectoral Sandpipers.

Somewhat tapered look made him look like a WR SP but other identifiers did not corroborate that.  I wish I could have gotten another peep in the frame so you could see size difference.  He was quite a bit larger than a Least SP and even a Semi-palmated SP.

He had black legs and back had some color to it although its hard to tell from these pics.  Do Sanderlings visit sod farms?

This shot was weird but in case it helps I am posting it.  If you zoom in on wings you can see reddish hue in wings.

Here you can see wings are longer than tail.  With Pectoral in back you can see this bird is too big to be a Peep.

Unfortunately I was playing with my camera when he must have flown and I did not get to see the rump.

Then finally after about two hours I found my targets!!!!

This first picture can give you an idea of distance, so keep in mind the distance when you see the subsequent shots of poor quality.  Those little dots in the center of the frame are Buff-breasted SPs.  This is at 300mm at full zoom.

Now with pictures heavily cropped.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper - about the same size as nearby Pectoral SPs, buff colored breast and head, yellow/orange legs and walking a bit like a chicken with head stretching out when he took a step.

Here he is with neck stretched out.

Almost looks like a dove in a picture but if you saw him you would see the jizz is different.

I ended up seeing at least 3 different birds.

Pectoral SP - note well defined bib.

Here is a shot to show comparison of Buff-breasted in foreground and Pectoral in background.

By the time I got out of there it was 6:30pm and hitting the other VOA spot before dark was pretty much impossible so instead I elected to drive route 45 South through farm country in the hopes of seeing an early bird Barn Owl but no such luck there.  By the time I got some dinner and made it down past New Bern it was 9:30 pm when I finally turned onto Catfish Lake Rd.  For those of you who have not taken this road, it is a long dirt road through the heart of the Croatan and even during the day there is not much traffic so I reasoned I would have a good chance seeing a Nightjar on the dusty road.  In Costa Rica the best way to see Nightjars is to drive on the dirt roads at night.  I saw hundreds of them that way last year.

Anyway, I sorely miscalculated.  Apparently every redneck in the immediate area goes to Catfish Lake to get drunk on Saturdays and then they haul ass down the dirt roads into the night where they can do no harm except for themselves and maybe the errant Nightjar birdwatcher.  Sorry if that term (redneck) is offensive but is there another way to describe a Confederate Flag adorned pick-up truck driver throwing empty beer bottles out of the window every half mile or so?

I drove around for about an hour stopping every mile or so and turned off the engine to listen for Whips but I heard nothing but insects and owls.  However, the stars were beautiful out there and I did not regret trying.  We (Americans) really need to do something about light pollution.  The average American probably doesn't even know that with all the lights we are completely drowning out the best show around - the night sky.  Its sad that to get away from light pollution you need to drive 10 miles into the Croatan or maybe hike for a day on the Appalachian Trail.

So driving around all day netted me one bird for my big year but it was all worth it.

Great times.