King of the Battleship (16-18May2016)

This week started out fairly routine.  Early morning and late afternoon birding before and after work.

A report of a Black Rail calling in the middle of the day at Fort Fisher had me out on the spit one day after work.

What I believe to be a Long-billed Dowitcher although I will never claim it until the genetic testing comes back.

Dowitchers and Black-bellied Plovers.  I never did find any Black Rail.

Breeding Plumaged Red Knots

I have diligently checked thousands of BB Plovers but the American Golden still eludes me.

Have you ever heard the Sonic Boom of a Common Nighthawk?  If not, I strongly suggest you seek one out.

A very early morning sojourn to CB State Park for migrants netted me the usual suspects which is pretty darn good when the usual is a Painted Bunting.

Painted Bunting

And finally a late evening trip to the Battleship downtown during my sons soccer practice ended up being a blessing.

I usually don't see Spotted Sandpipers in breeding plumage with well defined spots, so despite the poor light I made my best effort to photograph this bad boy.

Snowy Egret

Clapper or Kling?

Then this member of royalty showed up.

In all the years I have been going to the Battleship I have been skeptical of reports of Kings because I have not seen any among hundreds of Clappers/Klings.  I know in the past there were lots of Kings here but it seems they are being hybridized out of existence here.  This is probably a direct result of salinization in higher reaches of the Cape Fear River as a result of climate change?  Makes sense to me.

This guy was all hot and bothered and it was not me!  His attention was focused in front of him.

He was puffing up and making himself look big.  You would think this was some mating display, but no......

The object of his attentions was this Boat-tailed Grackle.

Obviously not a happy bird.  I wonder if the Grackle was messing with his offspring/eggs.

When the Grackle few, he went back to his daily grind.

Look at that tail!

Here is an adult bird with a bunch of Black Rails....... Just kidding, those are baby rails!  So cute.

My pelagic bird trip post will be next.  It was a doozy so stay tuned.