The Last Hurrah (05-07Dec2015)

Well folks, it's almost the end of the year and a combination of work, a lack of rare birds and the fact that I know I am very far from any records has slowed down my resolve.  In fact I knew early in the summer already that I was not on pace to overtake Derb's record.  It's amazing that all the effort I put in this year between chasing rare birds, taking numerous pelagics and spending countless ours in the field and I am still falling over 25 birds short of his 351 record.  I believe his record will stand for a long time unless someone that is retired, independently wealthy and lucky tries soon.
I was so sure that I would not touch the record that three months ago I booked tickets for the last week of December to take the family to Puerto Rico.  This week I am flying to Illinois for work.  So between those two trips I think I am effectively done for the year.
Not before one last push though.  Sherry L texted me on Friday and told me she was doing the bonus trip with Steve S and Brian P on the OBX over the weekend and they had some cancellations so I reached out and was able to secure a spot.

The following picture is actually from my way back from New York, we stopped at Pettigrew State Park to stretch our legs and I captured this image of a quick fly by which I thought was a Bald Eagle.  The only reason I am posting it now is that someone reported a Golden Eagle from Pettigrew on that same day in the same general area. I don't think this is a Golden, but I thought it was worth posting in case anyone wanted to weigh in.

Random spider hanging from a thread at Pettigrew.

Ok back to the trip report from this weekend.  On the way up to the OBX we drove the back roads outside Washington in Beaufort County and I yelled "stop the car" when I saw an owl shape sitting on a telephone wire on the side of the road.  We turned around and Sherry shone her flashlight up and we got great looks at a nice Barn Owl.  Of course it took off before I could get my camera on it and who knows if a shot in the dark like that would have worked anyway.

Saturday morning at the Comfort Inn in Nags Head dawned beautifully.  But as the saying goes, red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.  This warning was well taken as Sunday dawned with absolutely awful weather.

First stop Saturday was Bodie Island.  In the parking lot we all gave our estimates on how many species we would see in the next day and a half.  I picked 120.  I actually did not know that Sunday was going to be horrible weather so I reasoned that 120 was certainly obtainable.

Bodie was excellent!  We got great looks at 3 different rail species including Sora, Virginia and King Rail!!!  I think everyone got looks at the Virginia Rails, the Sora showed for some of us and the King was seen by Shun, Sherry and I when everyone else had gone back the parking lot.  It was very red and much larger than a Virginia and Steve had thought he had heard one earlier so we were pretty certain despite this species not being in this location normally.

Virginia Rail - Ok not the best picture, but he would not stay still and the light was still bad.  Sherry got better pics with her point and shoot.

Much smaller than a Clapper, buffy underneath and gray face.

Sora way over on far side of pond.

Have to love a Tundra!

At Coquina Beach we had large flights of Scoters which were mostly Black Scoters with a few Surf mixed in.  Notably no White-winged.

Purple SP at the Old Coast Guard Station groin.

South Pond had hundreds of thousands of waterfowl.  Snow Geese rarely ever photograph well for me because their blindingly white plumage tricks my camera and I am not savvy enough to manipulate it manually.

There was a raft of Redheads that was in the tens of thousands.

The trip leaders found this lone Brant for my 315th photographed species!

I have a better Photo digiscoped with Shun's scope and my iPhone but I have to post when I have more time.

This Dovekie was very obliging in the Jockey's Ridge visitor's center.  However, one of my rules was to not count stuffed and dead birds.

Even with his X ray goggles Shun could not find any Black Rails at the Duck Boardwalk.  But I think he was able to see Sherry's underwear.  A little creepy if you ask me. Mary was staring off at something on the horizon but no one will ever know what.  There's something about Mary.  Good people!

Day 2 was a horrible day, wind chill in the 30s and raining in Nags Head.  Poor Sherry's car was covered in sand from the wind. So the caravan headed to Mattamuskeet.  The usual suspects were found.

Blue Winged Teal.

In the end we tallied 119 species so I was the winner of the prize which was a nice Eco-glassware bowl.

I added two photographed birds for my big year effort in Virginia Rail and Brant.  So that leaves me with a very respectable 325 seen species and 314 photographed.  Not bad for a practice run!!!! That leaves me with only 11 species that I saw but failed to photograph.  I actually did get photos of the Short-eared Owl and Yellow-headed BB but they were so bad I decided to not post them.

Seriously though, it has been very fun and I think I am going to keep my blog up as much as I can.  I promised my wife I would not do another big year in 2015 but I plan on taking some ex-NC trips and I will still undoubtedly be birding in NC quite a bit.

My main objectives in doing this big year have been achieved 100%.  I have gotten to know my state better, I have met tons of interesting people and I have improved my birding skills drastically although I will still get stumped by the odd looking Pine Warbler now and again.

Thanks for reading and if you see me in the field say hi!

Cheers.