Once we finally made it to Twin Lakes (it did not take long but knowing the birds could fly any moment made every minute an eternity), I set up my scope and found the ducks within a minute. However, they were so far I knew I was going to have trouble getting a photo good enough to document the sighting. So I drove onto a side road with access to the golf course and took my chances walking in without walking on any greens. I found a vantage point where I could get the below identifiable photo, but that just was not good enough either.
So I decided to find the house from the road and knock on the occupant's door to see if they would be ok with me getting a better shot.
Gray Fox Squirrel - we don't get too many of these in NC.
I found the house and saw a Giant's sticker on their vehicle so I decided to introduce myself and use my New Yorker accent to endear them to my plight. The nice lady answering the door looked at me like I was some kind of weirdo which is probably appropriate but she took me inside and opened the back door for me. Bingo! Three BBWDs hanging out on her little lawn. They were definitely wary of humans and looked as though they might fly so I stayed only 1 minute and managed to snap some pics. By the way, she said she would not want a repeat of people knocking on her door to see the ducks, so please don't do the same.
Some people have been calling the bill color pink and some "coral" but to me it just looks orange. Now the legs are definitely pink.
I was not really paying attention at the time, but I don't see any bands on the ducks.
I hope they establish themselves in NC. We could use them.
The orange is really pronounced on the upper part of the bill (culmen). Look at the "nail" on that bill!
After that we went to the beach and really enjoyed swimming in the tidal pools and cooling off in general. I did find a huge gull roost with what I thought was a Lesser Black-backed Gull but I did not have bins or my camera.
Great times.
Kudos! Excellent trip, Jamie. So glad you got the BBWD. That's a Life Bird for me in 2015; I saw in Florida (have yet to see them in NC). I spotted these colorful ducks in THREE different places during my Florida trip in June. This is after years of pursuing this "nemesis bird" (you know the one; "It was just here a minute ago, but it flew away just as you pulled up!" Based on that experience, I'd say they are increasing. I spotted them at Lake Woodruff NWR (over a small lake along the trail from the Myacca parking lot to the impoundment pools. That was a FIRST record of BBWD for Lake Woodruff NWR and my Life Bird sighting! Then I saw them again at Audubon Park in Volusia County, and a third time at the Lake Apopka North Wildlife Trail.
ReplyDeleteGlad you mentioned the warning to NOT knock on the resident's door for future BBWD photos in Sunset Beach. That whole description reminds me of a mashup between the hummingbird scene in "The Big Year" (Steve Martin exchanges pleasantries with the host of the rare bird, while the "evil birder" jumps her fence and tramples stuff in pursuit of the hummer), and the scene in "Rain Man", when the brother and Raymond(Hoffman) knock on the door of a stranger and ask to watch "Jeopardy" on her television. (Raymond will throw a tantrum if he doesn't see Jeopardy each day. And the woman lets them in and they watch the show.)
No, really, think about it.... a mashup of those two shows, right? Glad she let you see the birds. We can all enjoy your photos of those charismatic Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks!
Erla
Great photos, story (and wife)!
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