But first things first, on Sunday after watching my wife cross the finish at the WB Half Marathon, I went to the South end of Wrightsville Beach to try and relocate the Burrowing Owl. I brought my kayak this time and went over despite dire predictions of down pours. Unfortunately the owl was nowhere to be seen. The clump of grass where he normally sits had no sign of him.
I walked out the jetty and was rewarded with some close shots of Horned Grebes changing into breeding plumage. If you have ever walked out this jetty to the end, you will know that it is slippery and not really meant to be walked. In fact, the Coast Guard pulled up and asked me to turn around. Well it's a good thing they did because just when I was almost back to my kayak, it started to pour. I threw my camera equipment into my kayak bulkhead and started the paddle back. Fighting the current and the wind I finally made it back to shore and was absolutely soaked. However, after some coffee and a hot shower I was back in tip top shape. As surfers like to say, you never know unless you go.
Purple Sandpiper
Razorbill
Sunday afternoon it cleared up and the birds at Airlie were in a frenzy. Nothing is better than a good rain in the morning with an afternoon clear up to get the birds foraging like mad.
This Blue Jay was a little plump.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher with a tasty morsel.
I had 5 warbler species including this Prairie Warbler that was flagged by eBird. However, the damn Nashville still eludes me.
Monday's first stop was the Arboretum at Chapel Hill. What a cool place.
Hermit Thrush
It didn't take long to find Mr. Louisiana Waterthrush. He was singing and chinking away like crazy.
It's not very often I get great looks at a Louisiana so please excuse the many photos.
Uniformly creamy white, and nice bare patch on the throat.
Look at that tail! So wide. Only the Louisiana and the Swainson's Warblers have such a wide tail.
Next stop, Wilkerson Nature Park. Sorry I should have taken more scenic pics, as this park was freaking awesome!! Such good forest habitat, field habitat and I am sure there was more as I only scratched the surface. The kids were having a great time running around. The park was actually closed so we had the while place to ourselves. We had to hike in from the entrance but it was not far to the area where the feeders are.
It did not take long to find one of the Great Horned Owls, although it was not on the nest and we did not see any owls on the nest for the hour we were there.
As I was watching the owl, I noticed a long overdue bird sitting on the feeders.
Pine Siskin!
I love a bonus bird.
Not a big fan of feeder shots but a man has to take what is given to him.
I will download some photos from my iPhone later of the sweet Greyhound we visited for potential adoption later. We should be picking her up for good this weekend. Poor Paco (our Whippet) is going to have to make some adjustments and share his space with a new dog. Her racing name was Lattice and if you google her name and greyhound racing you will find links where you can actually see videos of her racing. She actually won a few races. Disclaimer that I definitely do not condone Greyhound racing, but it is pretty cool to see that the dog you are adopting was a winner. She is very shy and a good word to describe her is "aloof" but Paco was the same way and it did not take long to get him warmed up to us. The foster parents say that they have had her in rescue for so long because she was not connecting with people when they went to visit her. All the more reason why we feel good about this adoption. These poor dogs are discarded after they stop winning races and then no one wants them. No one except the Friends of Greyhounds and families like us. Next time you get the hankering for a dog, consider a Greyhound rescue.
What's next? I am not sure, only a few species coming through my filters now and they are not hard to get later in the year so I don't think I will be chasing them. Maybe I will go for some migrating shore birds today before or after work.
Cheers.
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