Victory!!!! After searching for weeks for a Swallow-tailed kite I finally found one and boy what a beauty. After work today (Thursday) I took another drive to Brunswick/Columbus County looking for kites. Not many kites have been seen this year in North Carolina but the majority of the sightings have been in the town of Northwest near Riegelwood which is a rural area adjacent to the Cape Fear River. Actually Northwest is also known among birders this year for the nesting Monk Parakeets. So I have been driving out there doing a tour of all the loop roads like Goodman Rd. and Blue Banks Loop Rd. Well this time on my way down the west side of Blue Banks Loop Rd I finally found a ST Kite circling over the road. I slammed on my breaks and jumped out all in one motion. Luckily there was no traffic.
I could have watched this bird for hours but he only circled for a couple minutes. There was an old Mexican couple sitting on lawn chairs and I could tell they thought I was more amusing than the kite. I asked them if the bird was here often but they did not speak a lick of English. I was going to try and use my poor Spanish but a car was approaching down the road and I had to get in and move.
Since I figured I was going to have a lucky day I drove down to Oakland Sod Farms to try my luck for a recently reported Baird's Sandpiper and Buff-breasted but I was not that lucky. All I could find was numerous Pectoral Sandpipers, Yellowlegs and some peeps.
I did find a nice flock of Glossy Ibis.
Great times!
Nice photos!
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