Last weekend I missed Buff-breasted because I was too tired after Mackay Island and decided not to stop at American Turf Farm on my way home which proved to be a big mistake. That day someone reported a Wilson's Phalarope and this is a bird I can easily miss this year.
I have been to Lock and Dam 1 and Oakland Plantation several times already this year trying to get Swallow-tailed Kite and shorebirds but this week I really went overboard. I was in Brunswick and Columbus County almost every day after work. My gas bill is starting to get a little too excessive. And unfortunately I have nothing to show except a crippled Great Blue Heron. Don't get me wrong, I saw lots of birds and good birds but I have them already and they do not count for my big year.
This GBH had a broken leg and some weird thing sticking out of his joint, I think it may be the bone? I wonder if a Snapping Turtle was the culprit.
Never the less, he was still a handsome devil.
In the mornings I was checking Ft. Fisher for Buff-breasted. Greg had seen one in the fields on the weekend. Nothing special turned up but this group of Bucks. I have never seen such a big group of bucks with full racks. I guess it pays to grow up in an area with no hunting allowed.
Harry took me out on the spit one day this week and we had some really good looks at Caspian Terns which was nice since my previously posted picture was horrible and barely diagnostic.
Caspian Tern - all the field marks are here: Red thick bill, dark underwing and fully black cap in August.
In terms of shorebirds, we had thousands, but could not turn up something rare.
My peeps.
On the way back from the spit on Friday I called Brian Patteson to see if there was any room on the pelagic on Saturday to make up for my rain check from last week. Luckily there was. I quickly got home and packed for the trip. Melissa made me some sandwiches and out the door I went. I really have to say how appreciative I am of my wife and kids for supporting my big year and letting me go chase birds last minute. I did not get out the door until 8:30 pm and was very leery about my decision to drive 6 hours in the middle of the night knowing the boat was leaving at 6am the next morning. That only left me with a couple hours sleep in a parking lot again!!! Going on a 12 hour boat ride in the open ocean on 2 hours sleep is not a good idea.
Luckily this time although it was raining there was no lightning and the trip was a go. We had a pretty big group of people this time and once underway the rain stopped and for the most part it did not rain again the whole day.
After a 2 hour ride out to the shelf, we started to pick up some of the usual suspects with Cory Shearwaters, Black-capped Petrels and Wilson's Storm Petrels.
Now my pelagic identification skills are getting better but they still suck. So I told myself that this time I would only start taking pictures of storm petrels when I knew I was looking at a Band-rumped since that is the species I still need a picture of. This trip provided to be a really good trip for Band-rumped, we had very good numbers and they came relatively close.
Band-rumped Storm Petrel - this picture is not particularly telling with the exception that you can clearly see there is no legs projecting past tail. The carpal bars are more weak than a Wilson's. However with his wings bent he almost looks like a Wilson's in this picture.
Band-rumped Storm Petrel - Although blurry, this picture shows better the profile of the bird. Most notably no legs projecting past tail. It glides more like a proper petrel. It's also larger than the Wilson's SP but thats hard to see in this picture. Brian described it by saying this bird can cover 4x more ground than the Wilson's in the same amount of time. The Wilson's SPs flight is more erratic and bouncing. The Wilson's SP will patter on the surface with their long legs held down.
Band-rumped SP.
Black-capped Petrel - striking white rump patch.
Audubon's Shearwater - we had large numbers of these.
Now that I had my Band-rumped pics, I allowed myself to take pictures of the Wilson's SPs.
Wilson's SP - note long legs and white rump extends further under the bird.
Patter patter, note the yellow webbing in between toes.
Great Shearwater - pattern in "arm pits" is distinctive.
Cory's Shearwater - yellow bill is distinctive. Also it's size, it is the biggest of the shearwaters in this area.
Wilson's SP.
Then somehow Jeff Lemons picked out this Bridled Tern in the vast ocean perched on a piece of flotsam. I have to say that Jeff is really an awesome spotter, he is constantly scanning the entire trip and I am fairly confident that when we go on a trip with him we are not missing any birds.
Bridled Tern - Bridled are much more likely to be perched on flotsam than the Sooty Tern.
His back is fairly black, but not as black as a Sooty.
By the way, how fitting that as I am writing this I am listening to Freebird by Skynyrd.
A little later Jeff spotted a far away flock of birds and Brian gave chase. It turned out to be a really nice mix of Petrels, Storm Petrels and Terns with great looks of birds sitting on the water.
Black-capped Petrel.
Cory's Shearwater.
Sooty Tern - are you kidding me! I paddled a kayak for miles in the Cape Fear River and now they are dropping out of the sky.
Sooty Tern - larger and darker.
Bridled Tern - smaller and lighter wings. The white foreheads where also wider on these birds but its hard to tell from that alone.
Bridled Tern.
Sooty Tern - more black edging underwing.
Cory's Shearwater.
Bridled Tern.
I wish I had taken a photo of all fours bird together, that would have shown nicely the size difference. There was two of each and at times they were all flying in formation.
Cory's Shearwater.
Sooty
Someone mentioned a Sooty looks like a Swallow-tailed Kite underneath. Wow, no kidding.
This is what happens when you use a telephoto to take a picture of something up close.
A Skipjack was a short distraction from the birding. Brian will sometimes put out some lines while motoring around for birds.
Black-capped Petrels - Niel Hayward of Big Year fame told me on a pelagic that the Black-capped Petrel was his favorite bird to watch. That is saying something when he saw over 700 species in his big year effort. It may have been something he just said at that moment, but I tend to agree that they are extremely graceful fliers.
Although I only added two birds, it was a very nice trip. The only problem was the trip home. I felt fine the whole time on the boat, a little tired and wind/sun burnt but no sea sickness at all. However when I got off the boat and started to drive I began to feel very ill. I think the lack of sleep, the exposure on the boat and probably dehydration all were conspiring against me. I had to pull over in Buxton and I fell into a deep sleep almost immediately. I awoke two hours later and although not tiptop I felt better and started the long drive home. This delay was a big disappointment because I was planning to visit American Turf Farms on the way home but now I missed my window and it was dark as I passed the Creswell exit.
I did take some back roads on the way home through Washington County and saw a Barn Owl perched on a telephone pole in the dark but before I could get my light and camera on him he had flown. This was a big tease, I have been hunting Barn Owls for a long time. And this tease was especially disheartening because now I was on high alert and drove the rest of the way through Washington very slowly stopping many times to shine my flashlight. However, this encounter did keep me awake which was a good thing. I did not get home until 2 am!
Great times.
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