Bittern Sweet and Rednecks Galore (10-11Mar2014)

This week was a work trip to Raleigh and of course I managed to work in a little birding here and there.  My main targets were an American Bittern that Lynn Beagle gave me a heads up about and the other was of course the Red-necked Grebe invasion.

First stop was Lake Crabtree from the Dam on the East side of the lake which was full of ducks and gulls but no dice on the Red-necked Grebes.

These Lesser Scaup must have had a rough night out on the town.  Even though it was early morning, they were all sleeping it off.

Except this guy, notice the more peaked head than my earlier pics of the Greater Scaup. You cannot go by the color of the head as you can see the green sheen here despite this being a Lesser Scaup which is normally purple.

                  I estimated about 200 Lesser Scaup.

Northern Flicker - I will get a better picture but must make progress.  Notice the diagnostic white rump.

Next I headed to Prairie Ridge Ecostation to try for the Bittern that has been reported there over the past several months.  He/she took a little break but is back.

Double dip.  I searched every inch of that little pond short of diving into it.

There was another couple Scaup though!

The weather was amazing and these Bluebirds were busy getting the nest ready.

Let's just hope this Brown Headed Cowbird does not parasitize the Bluebird nest.  Not sure if the can fit in the hole.  Could you imagine sacrificing all your hard work in raising your young only to find out they were someone else's and the baby was switched out at birth.

Finally I went back to Lake Crabtree and this time went to the Tower observation deck on the North side of the lake.  BINGO!

Red-necked Grebe in breeding Plumage.  There was 4 of them.  Much bigger than it's grebe cousins, with longer neck and bill.  when in breeding plumage pretty much a no brainer.  They were about 100 yards out so the photos are heavily cropped.

After working all day at my HQ building just down the road from Lake Crabtree, I headed back down after work to see if I could get some closer looks.

Two Red-breasted Mergansers were fishing right off the docks.

Then, this Red-necked Grebe popped up right next to me!  The lighting was bad otherwise this would have been an amazing shot.

Red neck, black head, long yellowish bill and excellent diver.

So now that I had the Red-necked Grebe in the bag, I devoted the rest of my free time before and after work on the next day looking for the Bittern.

The following birds were in the morning before work at the Ecostation.

Hooded Merganser.

Red-bellied Woodpecker - usually these guys are seen from the back and you can't see the belly, but when you get a look from under like this you can almost see where the name comes from.

           Tufted Titmouse.

Then one final shot on my way home, I was not confident because I had given my card to the staff and asked them to call me if the Bittern made an appearance.  I got no calls during the day so I was not expecting to find the bird.  However, when I pulled into the parking lot, one of the ladies recognized me and told me the bird was there!

I ran down to the pond and almost stumbled right into the bird!  He started taking his cryptic pose which is head pointed upward.

And every few seconds his neck would stretch a little further up.

Wait a minute, that reed is growing.

Then once the neck was extended most ways up, he/she started to sway his/her neck almost like mimicking a reed blowing in the wind.

Finally he/she started to relax once it was decided I was not a threat.

Back to business as usual, hunting tadpoles.

What an amazing trip! And I found out I got a promotion.

Great times!

Birding Wicked Hard (08-09Mar2014)

Saturday I took the kayak to the South end of Wrightsville Beach again hoping to get a Glaucous Gull, Red-necked Grebe, Pacific Loon or maybe a Razorbill of the jetty.  I did see a loon that looked perfect for a Pacific but the camera was in the bulkhead.  Nothing special from the jetty but got some good Purple Sandpiper Pics.

A year ago I would have loved to get this close to a Purple Sandpiper, now its almost a "trash" bird.

Kind of clownish looking.

I checked all the Horned Grebe for a possible Eared Grebe, but no such luck.  Some of them like the above are starting to change into breeding plumage and it can be confusing, however the bills all looked good for Horned Grebe.

You can almost see the purple on the back of this one.

Sunday I went up to Holly Shelter to get my Red-Cockaded WP fix.  I was a little discouraged when I got there because there was a cacophony of guns sounding off.  Now I know Sundays are not a hunting day so I called the hot line to see what was up.  Well apparently even though its not even hunting season in Holly Shelter, people can go there for target practice.   So unfortunately there is no day of the week with guaranteed peace and quiet.  That is a crying shame if you ask me.  In fact for the first three hours I did not find one Red-Cockaded WP and I think the shooting might have had something to do with it.  I don't understand why they can't go to a real shooting range, seems safer and it would not bother people that are actually trying to enjoy nature as it should be.  Considering the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker is an endangered species it would be nice if they made the Eastern section of Holly Shelter a no shooting zone.  Anyway I was resolved to get my WP so I hiked around until about 5:30 and the shooters left and the birds promptly came out to play.

Brown Headed Nuthatch - The most plentiful bird of the day if you don't count the huge flock of Chipping Sparrows.

Song Sparrow - There were tons of sparrows but I could not scare up a Bachman's or what I really wanted was a Lincoln's.

I had trouble with this one.  It had features of a Lincoln's and a Song and even maybe a Swamp.  However in the end I decided it was a Song Sparrow. Some Song Sparrows do not have strong markings.

Pine Warbler - Probing nooks and crannies for insects?

Warbler identification is one of the most difficult of skills to master especially in Fall.  However, just like any bird, enough practice and it becomes second nature.  This time of year the choices are limited. If you see a warbler in a Pine, and it's yellow with a white vent, most times it's a Pine Warbler.

The trees with the two white bands are the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker nest trees.  If you look towards top of this picture, you can see a hole with sap dripping down.  This was actually not a completed hole. the WPs drill to make the sap run so that predators will be deterred from climbing up.

Brown-headed Nuthatch - if you see a bird going head first down a tree trunk, chances are it is a nuthatch.

Closeup of a Red-Cockaded WP hole.

Pine Warbler - extracting seeds for the pine cone.

Red-cockaded Woodpecker - note the diagnostic white ear patch.

Red-cockaded WPs are a social species so when you see one, chances are you will see many.  This group had 5 birds.

Great times!

Jimmy Crack Corn (06Mar2014)

Mission Red-necked Grebe continued today.  My hope was that I could rustle one up at the biggest body of fresh water I know of in Wilmington, Lake Sutton which is really a reservoir used for fishing and I believe an outflow for the nearby power plant. Actually Lake Waccamaw is probably the best bet but I did not have enough time to go before work. Greg is hoping to check it out soon.

I started out meeting Greg at the Battleship hoping for a decent look at a rail but it was cold and windy and although we thought we heard all three species (King, Virginia and Sora) we could not get any looks.

So we headed to Lake Sutton and were treated to a spectacle of thousands if not tens of thousands of Tree Swallows.  Tons of Laughing Gulls too.  Some Pied-billed Grebes in the distance gave us some hope but in the end nothing.  It was strange that there was no ducks too.  Greg thinks that the warm water was not something the Red-necked Grebes would have liked.

On the way out, we stopped at a very productive bush next to the dirt road that had all kinds of Sparrows including some very photogenic Field Sparrows.  While watching the sparrows we found out why it was such a hotspot.  An old man in a jeep was slowly driving down the road while his dog ran alongside.  He was throwing out cracked corn all along the mile or so of road for the birds.  I am not sure if he just liked birds or if he was doing it to attract doves for hunting or what but the sparrows obviously knew the drill and were waiting for him like Pavlov's dogs.

Field Sparrow - I actually do not usually see many of these so it was a treat to see dozens at close range.

Note rusty cap and eye line behind eye, clear breast and pink bill.

This particular shot looks like an advertisement for Angry Birds.  "Back away from my cracked corn!".

               Savannah Sparrow

So I highly recommend birding the road along the way to Lake Sutton (Lake Sutton Rd.) and get there early if you want to see sparrows going to town on Jimmy's Cracked Corn smorgasbord.

On way home I stopped at Greenfield Lake to scan it real quick.  This GBH was fishing and giving me a dinosaur glare.

Great times!

Pre-rain blitz Wrightsville Beach (05Mar2014)

Knowing that it will be raining and cold next three days I took an early morning jaunt to the South end of Wrightsville Beach to see if I could get an interesting Loon or a Red-necked Grebe.

Just at the tip of the sand spit I lucked into some nice Piping Plover and Semi-palmated Plover.

Nice coloration comparison between the much lighter Piping Plover versus the much darker Semi-palmated Plover.

                       Semi-palmated Plover

                     Piping Plover

There were tons of Loons but almost all seemed like obvious Common Loons.  There was one exception.

Here he/she is stretching. My guess is that this is a transitional plumage Common Loon but inviting any differing opinions.  the lighter band on neck is the giveaway.

This was the only loon I saw that had dark plumage coming in under the chin.

Great times.

Family Time and George's B-Day (28Feb2014 - 01Mar2014)

Well I am sorry to say things have been very slow lately for the birds.  I have been slammed at work and the few times I did get out it was only local little forays adding nothing new.  However this past weekend I did manage to add a few despite it being mostly a family affair.

Friday was a quick trip to Greenfield Lake and I saw tons of common birds including a huge flock of Grackle in the hundreds mixed in with some Rusty Blackbirds.  The Rusty BBs were in a densely shaded area and the photos did not come out.

American Robin - there were close to 100 of these foraging in the dying light trying to get one more worm before bed.

Saturday started with some present opening for George's 7th B-day. Then we headed out for a family 5k and fun run.  In the drive way I spotted a Cooper's Hawk and managed a poor recording shot but I am going to hold off adding it to my tally as I hope to get a much better picture.

Luke won his age group for the 5k at 23 minutes.  33rd place out of over 200 runners most of which were adults.  The kid is fast!  Melissa of course won first place female with a 19 minute something second 5k.  Par for the course for her.

Next up was George and his first race, the miraculous mile! He is the little guy with the green pants.

George went out too fast and finished kind of slow but for his first race did awesome.  However, he did not enjoy it very much so not sure if there will be a second race in the future.  Melissa, Fay and friend helped George to bring it in for the last section.

Already added Cardinal, but I thought this strange subspecies was worth a pic.

After the race we jumped in the car for the ride up to Raleigh for a B-Day celebration including bowling, Indian food and a Lego Convention.  Right before dark we made it to Bond Park on a tip from a fellow birder and located the broken off tree where a Barred Owl was supposed to be sitting on a nest.  I was quite frustrated when I found the roost vacant but I kind of figured the owl would already be out foraging.

Sharp eyed Melissa (after laser corrective surgery) spotted the owl high up in a Pine, I think a Loblolly. The light was fading so I was surprised I managed a half decent photo.

My owl finding crew.

Sunday after the Lego Convention (hell on earth) we split up and I headed out to Greensboro to see if I could find two recently reported good birds - Red Necked Grebe at Townsend Lake Marina and Ross' Goose at a dairy farm sludge pond near High Point.  I won't bore you with the details but I dipped on both accounts.  It was especially frustrating because after scouring Lake Townsend, I got an email from the list serv that someone was looking at the Grebe 3 hours later and I was too far out to head back.  You can't win them all.

Great times (mostly).