It's raining Dovekies (6-8Feb2015)

I took a much needed day off on Friday and took a nice leisurely drive to the OBX for my pelagic on Saturday via Mattamuskeet and then made all of the obligatory stops on the OBX prior to staying at the Cape Pines.

I made Mattamuskeet at first light and it was very birdy (someone ought to contact OED and make that an official word).

Blue-winged Teal.

Northern Pintail.

Northern Pintail - I love ducks in flight.  I am trying to work on my ID skills of birds on the wing.

American Black Duck and Northern Pintail

Although Mallards also have white underwings, the contrast between body and wing is not nearly as distinctive.

Belted Kingfisher.

I took the duck blind trail for the first time and was glad I did it.  Usually I drive around Mattamuskeet and don't do much hiking because I figure I am maximizing my birding.  However, this time a nice walk through the woods yielded some good birds.  The cypress boardwalk brought my through a frozen wonderland.  There was a thin layer of ice all the way through and the birds were very active after a very cold night.  I was able to pick up most of the wintering warblers including Orange-crowned, Black-and-white, Yellow-rumped, Pine and Common Yellowthroat.

Pileated Woodpecker

This Golden-crowned Kinglet was part of a flock of 7-8.  This was probably the most Golden-crowned I have seen in one small area.

Tufted titmouse.

This Fox Sparrow was a little dumpy.  Maybe Mattamuskeet has been a little too good for him.

Black-and-white Warbler

Apparently Turkey Vultures grow on trees. This particular tree had about 10-12 of them.

At my favorite little spot at the end of the road where the little turn around is, there was a sparrow fiesta going on.  Swamps, White-throated, Songs, Savannahs and Fox.  However, the wrens stole the show.  First up was a House Wren, then this little guy came out and gave me a piece of his mind.

Winter Wren

Once on the banks, I checked Jeanette's and Bodie with little to show for it.  So next stop was Rodanthe Pier where a Harlequin Duck has been hanging out.  It took a white but I finally caught sight of him near the pilings, or what I think was a him.  He did not quite match the patterning I see for a male or a female in my Sibley's app but Harlequins have quite a but of variation in between plumages.

Harlequin Duck - very cropped photo, he was all the way at the end of the pier and the pier was closed for repairs.

Last stop was Cape Point for the continuing Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspur.  I wasn't about to spend the $50 for the driving pass, and I needed a good walk after all the driving so I parked and hoofed the mile or so to the point.  It was getting late so I was a little worried I was going to miss the boat so to speak.

Normally when I see a large congregation of gulls, I feel I have to stop and comb through them.  But this time I put my blinders on and trudged on to the spit of sand where the buntings have been reported.

Just as I was cursing myself for arriving so late, out of the corner of my eye I saw this guy - Snow Bunting!

It did not take long to find the Longspur.  In this picture, it looks like he was running through sea foam or something, but this was actually ice!  If you zoom in you can see the distinctive facial markings and the dark breast marking.

Lapland Longspur

Snow Bunting

Such a funny looking bird.

Lapland Longspur - this view shows the nice flank markings.

Beautiful bird.

View of the lighthouse and lagoon.  The spit of land between the ocean and the lagoon is where I found them.  About a half hour walk from parking if you do not have a 4x4 pass.

Then just before dark, I headed to the old lighthouse site and drooled over the surf.  I had thought about bringing my board but it was cold enough that I decided not to, plus I really wanted to get my birds and reasoned if I brought my board I would risk not getting the Lapland.  A couple years ago it would have been a no brainer. The waves were amazing.

Check out this next sequence which was one wave in rapid fire.

Some guy getting "dropped in on".  Usually the guy on the inside (closest to the curl) gets the wave.  However, in this case, the guy in the colorful wetsuit was clearly the better surfer.  In fact, I am pretty sure I know who he is, a resident pro.

Now you see the unfortunate soul on the inside ate it and the guy with the blue/green wetsuit is getting ready for the barrel.

Almost in there....

This is what it is all about.  They say that time slows down inside the barrel of good wave and all your worries instantly leave your mind and you have a moment of clarity and calm that nothing else can achieve except maybe Heroin and we all know that is probably not a good idea.

Might as well go for a second barrel - he made it out of this one too, but I missed the shot.

After a good night sleep at the Cape Pines Motel, I made it to Hatteras for the pelagic and the day dawned beautifully.  I have to say that paying a little extra for a hotel room rather than driving all night and crashing in the car as usual is the way to go.

We knew it was going to be a good day when Dovekies were popping up everywhere once we found a water temperature change gradient.

Cute little things.  I did not keep count but we saw upwards of a hundred Dovekie.

If this Loggerhead appears to be in ecstasy, its probably because there was another one rubbing up against it below the water.  Not sure if they were mating or just having fun.

Finally I got some close looks at Red Phalaropes! We had hundreds of them.

It seems Red Phalarope are the default this time of year.

Northern Fulmar - I need to fiddle with my camera settings next time because all of the white birds were way over-exposed in most of my pics.  When you have so much sun out there and water reflecting more light too, you need to dial it down.  I have lots to learn with cameras and rely way too much on automatic settings.  It doesn't help that a bunch of the settings on my camera are broken and the autofocus is jacked.

Fulmars look like gulls but fly like shearwaters, I am sure that is a gross oversimplification but it seems generally correct.

Bonaparte's, Red Phalaropes and one Dovekie.  Not a bad bunch.

Loggerhead. We also saw a Humpback Whale, Bottlenose Dolphin, Spotted Dolphin (I think) and a couple Hammerhead Sharks.

Assumed Razorbills - heavily cropped.  I believe the second bird from right is a Dovekie to give you perspective.

Over-exposed presumed Razorbills, note the white underwings. This is the same group from above minus the Dovekie and one of the Razorbills.

Dovekie

Northern Gannet

As usual for a winter "pelagic" we had plenty of Herring gulls, Lesser and Great Black-backed Gulls, and a couple Ring-billed Gulls following the boat and gobbling up the chum that the crew was dishing. However we did not see any rarities including a big miss of Little Gull for me.  I have been on 3-4 of the winter pelagics now and missed this each time. However overall it was a very successful trip and highly recommended.

On the way back to port Brian pointed out a large flock of Brant.  At first it almost looked like there was some gulls or something mixed in but it turned out the white was just the Brant rumps sticking up because they were probably swimming away from us.  The above photo was heavily cropped and light was bad but I think it is good enough for an ID.

Zoom in a little on this one and you can see the black neck with no white chin strap.

Uncropped photo showing the numbers in the flock.

Next morning I promised the wife I would get back at a reasonable hour but I checked Bonner Bridge and some other spots just in case the previously sighted Thick-billed Murre was around. No luck there.

The large flock of Redheads flew in just about at sunrise at Bodie Island. A sight to behold.

Red-shafted Northern Flicker?  Actually it is our regular Yellow-shafted but he was on fire from the sunrise.

The resident Great Cormorant at the old Coast Guard landing at the base of Bonner.

He did not have any definitive white markings on throat or flanks but his "jizz" was good for Great Cormorant.  Not all of them have visible white markings. See his square looking head which is a good indication.

Jeanette's Pier had a couple usual birds like this Red-throated Loon and I did see a Razorbill well with binocs but picture came out crappy.

Red-breasted Merganser

On way back past Alligator NWR this Great Blue Heron did his best Sandhill Crane impersonation.

Great times.