Hurricane Birds (07-10Oct2016)

I don't wish hurricanes on anyone and definitely not on critters and birds.  However, it does offer opportunities for some good looks at species that are usually not easy to see.  Hurricane Matthew was not ideal for bringing pelagic rarities because it hugged the coast all the way from the Bahamas but it did bring some and it also brought a front on the back end that finally brought migrating birds to Wilmington.  Also the birds that did come were exhausted and voracious which also made for good viewing.

This Semi-palmated Sandpiper was actually from the Friday before the storm.

I have been trying my hardest to find a Common Ringed Plover but have been unsuccessful so far.  This bird had the one field mark of the white supercilium, but that only works if it is an adult male.  Female and juvenile Semis also can have a white supercilium.

The black facial markings did not span the whole gape and only just pinched the top of the gape so this was not good for this bird.  I tried zooming in on the toes as Semis have partially webbed feet but I did not get a good enough angle to see that.  Keep your eyes open, some day you will find one.

During the storm Sam called and let me know a bunch of Sooty and Bridled Terns were weathering the storm on the South end of Wrightsville Beach.  This was technically the eye of the storm although it was by no means sunny.

Common, Sandwich and Black Tern.

Black Tern in center of frame.

Bridled Tern - wings are not quite black as you can see compared to Black Skimmer and the nape has a white strip separating crown and back.

Another Bridled next to grass.

I diligently checked all the terns for any rarities but other than Bridled and Sooty I could not find any.

In the right light you could see how light the Bridled was compared to the Sooties.

In the wrong light the Bridled looked like Sooty Terns.  However, i think the light strip on nape revealed most of these I was finding were Bridled.

No doubt about this one!! Juvenile Sooty Tern.

Thats the first all black juvenile I have seen in NC.  As it started to get dark, I hightailed it home which ended up being perfect timing because the back end of the hurricane was the harshest.  Although I woke up to find a mess in my yard, I escaped relatively easy compared to thousands of people with no power and downed trees.  In fact I never lost power for more than a few minutes.  Not that it mattered because I was out of my house birding all day Sunday.

Sunday morning I started at Wrightsville Beach and found very little on the North end.

However, this White-rumped Sandpiper was a welcome find.

The long wings were kind of weird looking on this bird probably because he was disheveled from the rough night.

Shell Island Resort sustained some damage too.

At the South end of Wrightsville I ran into a sad sight.  A Sooty Tern on the beach looked to be dead, then I saw it blink it's good eye.  The right eye was completely sealed by a mixture of sand and eye gunk.  Its wings were splayed out so that he was spread-eagle on the sand.  I got closer and he didn't move so I picked him up.  A couple feeble pecks was all he could manage.  The poor bird was tuckered out but his wings appeared sound and I just got the feeling he was just exhausted with nothing broken.  So I cleaned out his bad eye with sea water and made a little shelter in some beach flax and grass and put him underneath, being careful to leave him an easy exit when he got his strength back.  You may ask why not bring him to a rehabber?  I thought the stress of that may be more likely to harm than help him.  I truly believed he just needed to rest up a bit.

Sooty Terns have continuous black from cap to back.

This is the little shelter I made for him.  Spoiler alert, I went back the next day and he was gone.  I did not see any feathers on the ground so I like to think he got his strength back and flew away.

I headed to Fort Fisher after some Beach Bagels (try them if you are in town, yummy!).

Cooper's Hawk - I saw so many raptors over the next 4-5 hours it was ridiculous.

At the Federal Rocks overlook we had this Bridled Tern fly by.

Later on the Basin Trail I had two Wood Storks fly by which was a County first for me.

Wood Storks

I love the Basin Trail because the birds are eye level.

Cape May Warbler

Merlin

Seaside Sparrow - right in this same area I flushed a small black colored rail and tried to re-find it but was unsuccessful.  I am pretty sure it was a Black Rail, but I am not putting that on my list without a picture.  The tide was super high and all the marsh birds were getting pushed up near the Basin Trail.

Peregrine Falcon

Cape May

Palm Warbler - dare I say hundreds of these carpeted the flax.

Blackpoll Warbler!! See yellow legs/feet.

Then things got borderline ridiculous when I flushed a Sora and he perched in a Red Cedar tree.

Sora - never seen this species fly into a tree before.

Bobolink

Back at Federal Rocks the shorebirds were all sitting on the break wall just 15 feet from the dock.  This one Godwit looked real interesting.  However, apparently Marbled Godwits can have some size variation and I finally gave up trying to make him something better.

Short-billed Dowitcher

I stopped by the Recreation Fields and found a group of swallows and pipers to pore through.

White-Rumped Sandpiper  and Least Sandpiper

"Don't even try to make me into a Baird's SP,  here is my rump you newbie"

"Just in case you didn't get that, check this out".

The votes have come in folks, this was officially the most cooperative WRSP in the world.

So weird, the back end of this bird looked to be missing. Don't worry folks he was just shaking out his feathers after a bath.

Nice size comparison with Least SP.

I know, WRSP overkill.  You try and whittling down the pics when they are so crisp.

I tried to get a pic of the swallows but only this Barn was rendered 2 dimensional.

Monday was a nice morning at Burnt Mill Creek. The front after the hurricane was nothing short of fantastic for birds.

Prairie Warbler

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Cape May Warbler - one of those birds that you see quite often but have to take their picture none the less.

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher!!! I know this will be picked apart but I am fairly certain based on the consistent coloration from belly to throat and the poor differentiation from malar to throat.  Moderate primary projection too.  Good eye ring.

Only posting this pic as it shows how blended in the malar is with the throat.  All olive-yellow all over.  Acadian would have fairly sharp contrast with throat.

The light was not great regrettably so this was the best I could do.

Black-and-white Warbler

Phoebe

This empid had more contrast with a more whitish throat so probably was an Acadian but can't be sure.  It was about a half mile away from the original sighting of the YB.

Eastern Wood Pewee

Eastern Bluebird

Tuesday I got a call from Greg telling me Greenfield Lake was hopping, so tear myself away from work I did.

Northern Parula

Hooded Warbler

Edit: actually a Pine Warbler, I did see a Blackburnian for sure as we saw the white back braces, but I must have also gotten a Pine mixed in and only taken pictures of the Pine.  It was a little hectic.

Blackpoll Warbler - you can just make out yellow legs if you look closely.

Cape May

Nashville Warbler - not a bright individual but a Nashville none the less.

1

Yellowstart

Wilson's Warbler! Check the eye brow and the large eye.

No white edging on wings rules out Yellow Warbler and blackish tail with no white ruled out female Hooded.

Hands down the best 3-4 days of birding in NC I have ever had.  I had 17 warbler species yesterday alone.

Great times.