This particular photo is from the 19th before my trip but I just wanted to get Surf Scoter off my list. I will hopefully get much better photos later. Actually if you are a photo buff, skip to the very end of this post for the only decent photos (Le Conte's Sparrow). Since I have been birding early before work or late after work the light conditions have been poor and my camera still sucks.
Surf Scoter - female or immature. There have been big numbers of Scoters at the Coquina Overlook at Fort Fisher but the sun is usually right behind them so they have been frustrating me with pictures.
Saturday I went back to Coquina to get the Black Scoter. Now I just need to track a White-wing down. I know some folks have seen them but I have not yet this year.
Black Scoter
The rocks at Federal Point had a nice assortment of shorebirds sitting on the jetty at high tide.
Marbled Godwits, Willets, American Oystercatchers and Short-billed Dowitchers.
Garbled Mobwits are known to induce convulsions.
Horned Grebe
Horned Grebe - love these birds as they change plumage so much and keep you guessing.
Forster's Tern and Laughing Gull.
The Common Goldeneye at the Aquarium pond was still around.
Sunday my amazing wife let me take a day at North River Farms. Thanks Sweetums.
We started at 7 am and what a beautiful day! A little chilly but sun and no wind which is ideal for North River birds like the sparrows.
One of the first birds of the day was a Clay-colored Sparrow! Always a good bird.
Clear breast, buffy supercilium and whitish crown stripe.
Keep in mind this bird was not very close so I had to crop these photos heavily.
This Clay-colored got shot out of a cannon.
There was hundreds of Savannah Sparrows.
Hundreds of Swamp Sparrows.
Swamp Sparrow
We had plenty of Song Sparrows too but for some reason I didn't get a picture.
This Redhead flew by solo.
We had several Orange-crowned Warblers including one that was quite accommodating.
Apparently Tree Swallows grow on trees.
Tree Swallows - I dare you to count how many in frame.
Tree Swallows - I should have taken video, a spectacle to behold.
We flushed up an American Bittern and luckily I was able to snap a picture before Jack's big head got in the way.
Wilson's Snipe - who knows if I will get a chance to get amazing pictures like last year during the ice storm. So I was snapping away as we flushed them hoping to get a discernible picture. I think this one is diagnostic - well defined white belly framed by dark tail and bib.
Then the bird of the day:
Le Conte's Sparrow - we almost overlooked this little guy.
In the flooded fields we had plenty of Yellow-legs (both) and two Long-billed Dowitchers.
Bill long enough for you? John says he always gets Long-billed on the farm, almost never SB.
Look away if you hate hideous pictures. The next one is only a recording shot.
In the center of the frame, you can see the dark tail indicative of a Long-billed Dowitcher as he landed. Finally, John thinks he heard the distinctive call mixed in with the Yellow-legs when we flushed them.
Palm Warbler
On the way home I passed the resident Sandhill Cranes at Beaufort Airport.
Sandhill Cranes - the second group I have seen this year already!
A digiscoped photo with my iPhone of the Long-billed Dowitchers from earlier.
Great times!
Apparently, I am behind in reading your blog! Wonderful photos of the L-C Sparrow. Wow. Stunning bird, and yet, so easy to overlook. And those Long-billed Dowitchers, wow. Maybe I need to make a trip to this hotspot some day. It's a long ride from Raleigh, however, and everyone wants to go to the beach when we head east! - Erla Beegle
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