Starting with Ft. Fisher spit after Hermine, we found some nice birds including Stilt Sandpiper and White-rumped Sandpiper. Baird's SP still eludes me...
Derb has a knack for spotting long-winged LBJSBs (Little Brown Job Shore Birds). This one was IDed as a White-rumped based on the faint streaking on it's side.
Over at the Rec Fields at Fort Fisher there was a really nice mix of shorebirds attracted to the flooded fields. We were convinced we had a crap load of Baird's SPs based on what looked to be long winged birds with dark legs.
Yes even Least Sandpipers can be long winged looking and the dark legs were simply because the sun was overhead and shadowing the otherwise yellow legs. Birding is hard. How embarrassing.
Stilt Sandpipers are easier to ID.
There was plenty of Lesser Yellowlegs too.
Pectoral Sandpipers dwarfed the Least Sandpipers making us recognize we did not have any Baird's.
Is is me or does a Pectoral SP look like an overgrown Least?
What an idyllic scene. Least SPs are the nicest of the three regular Peeps in my humble opinion.
Least and Pectoral. Can you see where we went wrong, the feathers look to project well past the tail on this Least.
When he/she lifted his legs out of the shadow you could see the yellowish tint.
Pec
Cloudless Sulphur?
Solitary Sandpiper
Stilt SP and Lesser Yellowlegs.
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
The weekend after Hermine I probably should have headed to the OBX to surf, but instead I went to Carteret County to look for the Barn Owl in a duck blind out in the middle of the Cedar Island Marsh. Don't worry, I am not spilling the beans on a secret location because the damn bird is gone. I was too late. I drove 3 hours to get there, kayaked 1.5 hours to get to the blind only to find an empty blind. Then I had to repeat the 4.5 hours on the way back, but not before a quick stop at Cedar Island Ferry Terminal.
Nice assortment of gulls - Herrings on left, Great Black-backed in middle with a Lesser Black-backed Gull to the right of the GBB.
Four Lesser Black-backed in this picture! I think there was 6-7 total.
It was nice to study the various plumages of the LBBs. This one was young enough that it did not have the trademark yellow legs yet.
Adult Lesser Black-backed.
Another nice size comparison of LBB in foreground and GBB in background. And yes I know LBB and GBB are not the proper banding codes.
Tricolored Heron
I may be way off on this one, but I think this is a Blue Dasher.
Sleepy Orange (thanks Brian)
Cicada - will try and narrow species later.
Ok stop reading if you hate horrible attempts at record shots of year birds. Last weekend was Luke's soccer tourney in Rock Hill, SC but I got one morning at Ribbonwalk Nature Preserve in Charlotte. A great little park. I was hoping for any warblers but expecting Magnolia at the very least. As it happens, I did not get Magnolia but did get Blue-winged which is probably better as I am sure to get Magnolia when I go up to the mountains.
Blue-winged Warbler speed blur. You can see the dark eye-line here.
Mostly yellow body with bluish wings and white vent.
I have seen 30-40 Blue-winged Warblers in my life and have Zero decent pictures of them.
Osprey at Airlie Gardens.
Long-tailed Skipper - I love an easy ID on a Butterfly.
Monarch Butterfly
Since Sam found a Franklin's Gull a couple days ago, I have been frequenting the North end of Wrightsville Beach before and after work.
Plenty of Laughing Gulls around in various stages of molt.
I was interested in this Herring looking gull due to the pink gape (corners of mouth) and dark iris. I was hoping Thayer's but the legs were not pink enough for my liking and too much dark on primaries. Could it be a hybrid? I believe Herring should have a yellow gape and usually yellow iris.
I took a few photos of plumage so any experts could look for something.
Look at that pink gape!!!
Caspian Tern
Presumed Common Tern, it seems I will never get a Roseate.
This Black-bellied Plover had me doing double-takes. So spotty and richly colored. However, I did confirm black axillaries and whitish rump so Black-bellied it is.
WTF!! I have heard of Laughing Gulls with red bills but this guy/gal was really strange looking.
I took a mess load of photos in case anyone wants to turn this into something other than a Laughing Gull.
The dark wing tips were restricted to very ends but I think it is just a molting thing.
This Laughing Gull had a pretty pronounced red tip to bill. All these birds were doing their best to throw me off the Franklin's trail. I ended up not ever seeing a clear candidate for Franklin's.
Marbled Godwit
Yesterday evening I had a Jaeger/Skua looking bird but the weird thing was it was being chased by a gull. Weird role reversal. In looking at the photo now, I see this is probably a Parasitic Jaeger based on size compared to Laughing Gull behind it. I would have loved a Long-tailed Jaeger but the bill is to big I think.
A more typical Herring Gull.
Photos with a 400mm lens of landscapes and sunsets never do any justice, but trust me when I say the sunset last night on WB was outstanding. There was a full rainbow to the East and a ridiculous orange sky on fire to the West.
Great times.
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