7 VA Statebirds in the Second Half of a NC/VA Coastal Trip Including Bullock’s Oriole and Other Nice Rarities, February 16-17, 2022

The Carolina Bird Club (CBC) had originally scheduled its January 2022 meeting for the NC Outer Banks.  But the Omicron Covid variant had other ideas.  Unfortunately, Covid numbers started to peak just before the meeting, and the CBC not surprisingly cancelled the meeting.  I was really looking forward to the guided field trips, not only to bird the coast, but to also learn about how to bird the area in general.  But if the Covid numbers dropped quickly, maybe I could squeeze in a trip to the coast on my own, perhaps in late February. 

And just as I had hoped, the numbers did indeed improve into February.  So I started to plan a 4-day trip to the upper NC coast and southeastern VA.  Given the long travel times to get to the coast that would give me 2 full days of birding at the coast but just a couple hours on the travel days.  It turned out that I was free February 14 to 17, which lined up nicely with some dry but chilly weather.  This was starting to come together.

Then came the research into possible statebirds.  There were a few rarities being seen in both states, along with a number of regular species I still needed for my state lists.  After quite a bit of research, and with nearly last-minute updates to chase newly reported rarities, I came up with the following tentative itinerary –

·       2/14 – travel to the NC coast at Wrightsville Beach for stakeout Mountain Bluebird and Long-tailed Ducks, then late afternoon birding at the Alligator NWR for an elusive Ash-throated Flycatcher, along with Golden Eagle and Rough-legged Hawk that were occasionally reported

·       2/15 – birding on the OBX starting with a seawatch at Cape Point, then time searching for a recently reported Snowy Owl near the Oregon Inlet campground, then another seawatch at Jennette’s Pier

·       2/16 – an action-packed day in southeastern VA with stops for a number of stakeouts (Bullock’s Oriole, Brewer’s Blackbird, Iceland Gull, and Common Eider) along with a seawatch at Ruddee Inlet, searches for Vesper Sparrows in Northampton County, and ending the day for Woodcocks at the Eastern Shore of VA NWR

·       2/17 – a seawatch at dawn at Little Island Park before starting the drive home

And with that itinerary I hoped for perhaps 4 or 5 new statebirds in each state.

This blog post summarizes the VA portion of my trip.  The NC portion was summarized in the previous post.

February 16 – Stakeouts and Hotspots in Southeastern VA

The plan for the day was to make stops at 4 locations for stakeout rarities, plus general birding at 4 other locations.  All these spots were pretty close to each other, meaning driving time wasn’t too extensive.  So, with a little luck, I would have enough time to search for all my targets.   

The first stop was for a long-staying Bullock’s Oriole at a feeder in Chesapeake.  The immature male bird had been coming to a backyard feeding station, along with an immature Baltimore Oriole.  With a bit of research I found the contact information for the homeowner, Deb Shelton, and reached out to her for permission to look for her bird.  She was most gracious, and invited me into her backyard to look for the Orioles.  She said that they were very active at the feeders early in the morning, and since this was the rarest of my targets, I decided to make that my first stop of the day. 

I arrived just before 7:30 and met Deb outside her house.  She described how both Orioles often fed together, showed me their favorite perch tree, mentioned that they often came in first for a peanut, etc.  She really knew her birds.  Armed with lots of great information, I made my way to the back deck to start my vigil.  But it didn’t take long.  Within 5 minutes I spotted an Oriole fly in from the left – it was the Baltimore.  And then right on cue the Bullock’s Oriole flew in a few seconds later (statebird #1).  It perched in the backyard for a minute or two, then flew to the feeders to grab a peanut – just as Deb said he would.  I got this picture with my cellphone and no magnification.

A poor excuse for a photo I’m afraid, especially compared to this exceptional photo taken by Deb Shelton.

I can’t thank Deb enough for her hospitality and of course for setting up such a nice feeding station that attracted those Orioles!

My statebird map for Bullock’s Oriole is inserted below.  The states where I’ve seen this species in its regular range are shaded in blue.  And now NC is the 7th state where I’ve seen Bullock’s Oriole as a rarity (shaded in tan). 

I hated to “bird and run”, but I had lots of other targets to try for.  I bade farewell to Deb, and then headed off to my next stakeout for Brewer’s Blackbird in Virginia Beach.  The eBird hotspot I was heading to was called “Breeze Farms (Brewer’s Blackbird Spot)”.  With a name like that how could I go wrong?  The hotspot was a small farm with various types of farm animals in small pens.  This was classic Brewer’s habitat, and as a result this had become a regular spot for them from December to March since 2016. 

Along the way I passed by lots of ag fields which I scanned for my VA nemesis bird – Wild Turkey.  That was by far the most common bird I still needed for my VA state list.  But rarely are Turkeys in stakeout locations.  Instead, you typically just run into them.  And I kept my eyes peeled for them as I drove by every field, though luck never seemed to be on my side.

Now back to the Brewer’s - many of the recent sightings mentioned them being perched in trees, and as I pulled up I noticed one tall deciduous tree in the middle of the farm.  That must be the one.  There was a small flock of Starlings up there, but I didn’t notice any Blackbirds.  But then the Starlings flew off leaving one lone Blackbird behind.  It was either a female Cowbird or Brewer’s, but it flew off before I could get conclusive scope views.  This wasn’t looking good…  But then I noticed a small flock of birds near the ground in one of the pens.  The flock rose above the fencing and I could see it was a mixed Blackbird-Starling flock.  Most of the birds settled back in the pen out of view but 3 birds landed on the top railing.  With the scope I could pick out 2 male and 1 female Brewer’s Blackbirds (statebird #2).  I watched a bit longer and the entire flock flew up again – this time I could make out about 10 blackbirds though couldn’t be sure of the IDs before the entire group settled back in the pen out of sight.  I likely had 10 Brewer’s but could only be sure of 3.

VA is now the 4th state after NC, SC, and GA where I’ve seen Brewer’s Blackbirds since moving to the region.  And I still need it in a few other states where it’s regular (the cross-hatched states in my statebird map below).  Although I have VA coded as a state out of their regular range based on range maps in the field guides, they sure seem to be regular at least at this one spot in VA.

Next I was on to Ruddee Inlet where an Iceland Gull has been seen irregularly with the local Ring-bills.  Along the way I once again kept my eyes open for Turkeys – and once again came up empty.  When I arrived at Rudee Inlet there was a small flock of Ring-bills in the parking lot, but no Iceland.  I had brought a loaf of bread along with me as gull bait, and was able to double the size of the flock with a few offerings, but still no Iceland.  I checked a couple nearby gull flocks close to the inlet and up the beach but still couldn’t find my target.

So now my focus shifted to doing a seawatch from the inlet.  The water was quite smooth and visibility was great, so I was hopeful I might pick out something good.  But alas, there was very little activity – just a few Gannets, Cormorants, and Red-throated Loons.  But then a bit later I spotted an alcid flying low to the water.  It was pretty far out but I could tell I had a Razorbill.  And a bit later another Razorbill flew by much closer (statebird #4).  As I always say – it’s quality not quantity.  Razorbill is typically the most common alcid on the East Coast, and I’ve now seen it in 8 of 11 coastal states from NC northward.

Happy with my seawatch results I went back to searching for the Iceland Gull but again just found Ring-bills.  It turns out the Iceland was last seen the day before on the 15th.

The next stop was only a short distance away at Lynnhaven Inlet where a female Common Eider had spent most of the winter.  I got some good intelligence about where to look and where to bird from, and the inlet was reasonably small, so I was cautiously optimistic.  But after a lot of searching I came up empty.  I even tried an additional vantage spot with no luck.  That was 2 misses in a row.  At least I was on schedule for the rest of my stops.

My remaining 3 stops were in Northampton County across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT).  You’re no longer allowed to stop on the islands of the CBBT, which can be pretty good birding.  So I just kept my eyes open as I crossed the mouth of the Chesapeake just in case something nice was flying by.  My first target when I got back onto land was Vesper Sparrow.  There had been 2 reports of as many as 45 Vespers in a couple fields along Arlington Road.  Though there were no details, and the reports were now 2-3 weeks old, so I was less optimistic about this one.  I pulled into the first spot and found an excellent set of fields with short-cut sparse vegetation - perfect for Vespers.  I parked on the shoulder and started walking along the edge of the field hoping to run into some sparrows.  But after a 20-minute walk I had just 1 Song.  As I headed back to the car a car pulled up and asked what I was doing.  He nicely said it was private land and suggested that I head out. 

With that experience I just birded from the road at the second spot, and found a couple Horned Larks, but still no sparrows.  Then I drove some nearby roads with good sparrow habitat though struck out there too.  And of course, I kept my eyes open for Turkeys though with similar results.

It was now late in the afternoon and I hoped I could reverse my latest streak and end my day on a high note.  My last target was American Woodcock at the Eastern Shore of VA NWR.  There was one recent Woodcock report from the refuge, with 13 birds displaying at dusk.  And although that report was now nearly 3 weeks old, I expected that they were nesting in the area and would still be active during my visit.  I arrived at the refuge at about 4:30 and did a little birding around the wetlands and woods while waiting for dusk. 

A general rule of thumb is that Woodcocks begin to call 20 minutes after sunset.  Sunset that day was 5:45 so I likely had to wait till just after 6 for some sightings.  As sunset neared I positioned myself along the south side of Hallett Circle in what looked like nice Woodcock habitat. 

A nice flight of Robins and Blackbirds heading to roost and a distant calling Clapper Rail kept me occupied while waiting for my target birds to wake up.  Then at 6:06, 21 minutes after sunset, I heard the twittering flight call of a Woodcock in the distance (statebird #4).  The rule of thumb is accurate once again.  As I drove out I passed through more good habitat along Fitchett’s Road and heard 2 birds “peenting”, and saw 3 others in the waning light.  As I left the refuge I got this shot of the moon rising over one of the Woodcock’s fields.

VA was my 29th eastern state with Woodcocks, but I still need them in a number of states mostly near the western edge of their range.

That gave me 4 of 7 targets on the day – not great, but I’ll take it.

February 17 – Seawatch and Drive Home

My only planned stop of the day was an extended seawatch at Little Island Park.  The key attraction here was a long fishing pier from which numerous reports had been posted on eBird.  Unlike some other fishing piers that open later in the morning (like Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head, NC that opens at 9), the pier at Little Island is not gated so you can access the pier at dawn.  It’s often the case that seabird movement is best in the early morning, and that was typically the situation at Little Island with best numbers often from seawatches starting at sunrise.  So my plan was to start at sunrise and stay at least a couple hours before making the long drive home.

I arrived at 6:45 to this spectacular sunrise.

And after pausing to take in the view, bird activity quickly started to pickup around me.  Soon the sky was full of Gannets flying south.  Many were right overhead and some were calling – I’ve never heard Gannets call except at a breeding colony in Newfoundland.  And although there were some diving birds, most were just heading south.  The flight continued until 7:05, and over those 20 minutes I estimated 10 birds were passing by every second for an astounding total of 12,000 Gannets!  Here’s a typical picture of that amazing flight.

The rest of the time during my seawatch there were hundreds if not thousands in view, but they seemed to be milling about rather than heading south.

But Gannets weren’t the only birds heading south.  There was a steady stream of other species heading south, dominated by Red-throated Loons, Red-breasted Mergansers, Cormorants, and Black Scoters.  At one point I spotted a pair of birds flying together – the lead bird was obviously a Red-throated Loon.  But the second bird was about a third smaller, and although roughly the same shape it had a more arched body, a faster fluttering wingbeat, and white patches in the secondaries – I had a Red-necked Grebe (statebird #5).  I was able to watch this pair for 10-15 seconds as they passed by to the south.  VA was the 5th state where I’ve seen this species as a rarity south of its normal wintering range.

Then there was the alcid show.  Although most of the seabirds were flying southbound, I started to notice singles or pairs of birds heading north.  These northbound birds invariably turned out to be Razorbills, some flying quite close to shore.  And then while watching one Razorbill heading north, a much smaller alcid passed through my scope field heading south.  I had a Dovekie, looking like a football with no extended head and neck, and a whirr of wings (statebird #6).  Soon thereafter a second Dovekie passed by – luckily these birds were rather close providing good extended scope views.  I had 2 other likely Dovekies that flew by farther out.  Although the range maps show Dovekie wintering as far south as North Carolina, they aren’t often seen from shore.

After about 2 hours the activity had slowed and I still needed to make the long drive home.  So I decided to call it quits with these very rough estimates –

Black Scoter – 100

Red-breasted Merganser – 135

Red-necked Grebe - 1

Dovekie – 2

Razorbill – 31 (exact count)

Red-throated Loon – 175

Gannet – 12,000

Double-crested Cormorant – 110

Truly a spectacular seawatch!

But the trip wasn’t over quite yet.  My route home included a couple hours of driving time through agricultural fields in southeastern VA – more Turkey habitat.  But I wasn’t too hopeful given my track record.  And as I neared the NC line I had pretty much given up.  But this time the “birding gods” were looking out for me.  Just 20 minutes before crossing back into NC, while driving on US 58 in Brodnax, I spotted a group of 8 Turkeys in an adjacent field.  And 10 minutes later I spotted another small flock (statebird #7).  Until then my daily VA Needs Alerts would include a dozen or more Turkey sightings scattered across the state – probably the most common species I still needed in VA.  Thankfully my Needs Alerts will no longer be dominated by Turkey sightings.  I only need Turkey in 6 more states plus DC.

A perfect ending to an excellent trip!  With 7 new birds that brings my VA list to 267.  The link to the eBird Trip report for this VA portion of my coastal trip is inserted below –

https://ebird.org/tripreport/39066

Can’t wait to go back to the VA coast again, likely next winter.  Or earlier if there are some nice rarities to chase.

7 NC Statebirds in First Half of NC/VA Coastal Trip Including Heermann's Gull and Other Nice Rarities, February 14-15, 2022

The Carolina Bird Club (CBC) had originally scheduled its January 2022 meeting for the NC Outer Banks.  But the Omicron Covid variant had other ideas.  Unfortunately, Covid numbers started to peak just before the meeting, and the CBC not surprisingly cancelled the meeting.  I was really looking forward to the guided field trips, not only to bird the coast, but to also learn about how to bird the area in general.  But if the Covid numbers dropped quickly, maybe I could squeeze in a trip to the coast on my own, perhaps in late February. 

And just as I had hoped, the numbers did indeed improve into February.  So I started to plan a 4-day trip to both the upper NC coast as well as southeastern VA.  Given the long travel times to get to the coast that would give me 2 full days of birding at the coast but just a couple hours on the travel days.  It turned out that I was free February 14 to 17, which lined up nicely with some dry but chilly weather.  This was starting to come together.

Then came the research into possible statebirds.  There were a few rarities being seen in both states, along with a number of regular species I still needed for my state lists.  After quite a bit of research I came up with the following tentative itinerary –

·       2/14 – travel to the NC coast, with afternoon birding at the Alligator NWR for an elusive Ash-throated Flycatcher, along with Golden Eagle and Rough-legged Hawk that were occasionally reported

·       2/15 – birding on the OBX starting with a seawatch at Cape Point, then time searching for a recently reported Snowy Owl near the Oregon Inlet campground, then another seawatch at Jennette’s Pier

·       2/16 – an action-packed day in southeastern VA with stops for a number of stakeouts (Bullock’s Oriole, Brewer’s Blackbird, Iceland Gull, and Common Eider) along with a seawatch at Ruddee Inlet, searches for Vesper Sparrows in Northampton County, and ending the day for Woodcocks at Eastern Shore of VA NWR

·       2/17 – a seawatch at dawn at Little Island Park before starting the drive home

But then as I was just about to finalize my plans came a report of a Mountain Bluebird in Wrightsville Beach– a 2nd state record.  The bird was first spotted on Friday (2/11) and continued reliably into the weekend.  And then on the 12th came a report of the 1st state record of Heermann’s Gull foraging in Mason Inlet at the northern end of Wrightsville Beach, just 10 minutes from the Bluebird.  And this was also the area where Long-tailed Ducks, another of my targets, had been recently reported. 

Wrightsville Beach was much farther south than I was planning to travel, but how could I skip those super-rarities?  I briefly considered changing the whole trip to visit the southern NC coast (including Wrightsville Beach) and the northern SC coast instead of heading north.  But then I wondered if I could start my trip with stops at Wrightsville Beach, then head north to still follow the rest of my original plan.  It would mean less time at each planned stop, but if the birds cooperated, I could squeeze it all in. 

Then there was one last complication – although the Bluebird continued to the 13th, the Heermann’s was not re-found that day despite many people searching.  But I figured the Bluebird and Long-tailed Ducks were still worth the extra travel time, so I kept with my revised plan.  And with that itinerary I hoped for perhaps 4 or 5 new statebirds in each state.

This blog post summarizes the NC portion of my trip. The VA portion is summarized in the next post.

February 14 – Wrightsville Beach

The first stop was the tiny island of habitat on an island just off Wrightsville Beach being visited by the Mountain Bluebird.  The entire area measured less than an acre and a half, consisting of a couple parking lots, a few trees, two small buildings, and a boat launch, with numerous telephone wires overhead.  And the bird had been seen perched on all of these features except the buildings.  The Bluebird had been reported that morning, so I was cautiously optimistic. 

I pulled into the parking lot around noon and was surprised to be the only birder there – I guess I’d have to find the bird on my own.  While the car was rolling to a stop I noticed a small bird perched on one of the cedars, but it was just a Yellow-rumped Warbler.  So I got out of the car to look around and not 10 seconds later noticed a bird perched on the wires – I had the Mountain Bluebird!  That was easy (statebird #1).  I took this phonescoped picture of this most cooperative bird. 

What a beautiful bird!  As I write this blog post the bird is still being seen in this same little area.

My statebird map for Mountain Bluebird is inserted below.  The states where I’ve seen this species in its regular range are shaded in blue.  Cross-hatched OK is the last state where I’ve yet to find it as a regular species.  And now NC is the 5th state where I’ve seen Mountain Bluebird as a rarity (shaded in tan). 

Since the Heermann’s Gull hadn’t been seen for two days I decided to not give it a try, and instead began to focus on my next target - Long-tailed Duck.  One had been seen recently at the Johnny Mercer Pier at Wrightsville Beach, and up to 7 had been seen at Masonboro Inlet at the south end of the island.  I figured my chances would be better looking for a small flock of birds, so I headed off to the inlet.  In any case I needed to find them quickly so I still had time to get to Alligator NWR that day to try for my targets there.

After a 10-minute drive, and a short walk through the dunes, I arrived at the inlet.  The Long-tails had been seen near the north jetty as recently as yesterday, though there were no reports today.  Several other birders were set up with scopes peering out into the inlet when I arrived.  No one had yet found the Long-tailed Ducks, though they had found 3 Great Cormorants and a large flock of 34 Purple Sandpipers.  Nice birds for NC, but not my target.  I searched the north jetty extensively, then searched the inlet and the more distant south jetty, but to no avail. 

Should I call it quits at the inlet and head back to the pier to try there?  Then I realized we were all only looking at the south side of the north jetty.  If we walked up the beach just a short distance we could see the north side of the jetty.  Seemed to be worth the try.  And sure enough, I set up the scope on the north side of the jetty and quickly picked up a flock of 5 Long-tailed Ducks swimming close to the jetty (statebird #2).  Just 3 more states to go to see it in its regular range.

That took a little longer than I hoped, but I still had enough time to make the drive to Alligator NWR and bird there for an hour or so before sunset.  However, when I got to the refuge at about 5 PM, the temperatures had dropped into the upper 30’s and it was quite breezy.  Not the best conditions to try to find a Flycatcher.  I scoured the area for maybe a half hour, but not surprisingly didn’t find the Ash-throated.  Plus I didn’t have a chance to get to the agricultural fields where my target raptors might be.  I would have to revise my schedule the next day to get back to the refuge with more time.  At least I had a pretty good handle on how to bird the area where the Ash-throated Flycatcher was being seen.

February 15 – Outer Banks, Alligator NWR

My first stop of the day was at Cape Point to do an extended seawatch.  In the last week one birder had been doing nearly daily seawatches at the Point finding tremendous numbers of nearly every species one might expect, and some spectacular species including 5 that would be new for my statelist like Razorbill, Parasitic Jaeger, Manx Shearwater, Little Gull, and Black-legged Kittiwake.  Plus loafing flocks of gulls near the point sometimes included an Iceland and a Glaucous Gull.  Needless to say, it was a target-rich environment, though I thought I’d be lucky to get just 2 or 3.

I drove to the end of Lighthouse Road near the Point, and at sunrise parked my car at the end of the pavement.  Then I “layered-up” and started my mile-long walk in the soft sand to the Point.  Here’s a look at sunrise along the way.

As I headed south there was lots of activity over the ocean with birds flying by both northbound and southbound.  But rather than stop along the way I headed right toward a large gull flock on the beach near the Point.  Unfortunately, neither white-winged gull was there, though it was nice to see dozens of Lesser Black-backs. 

Then I looked toward the Point and noticed a birder standing on a small sand dune scoping the ocean.  I made my way over to him to join him in the seawatch.  It turns out he was the birder who had done all those recent seawatches, Daniel Irons.  He had driven to the Point getting there a bit before me, though I hadn’t missed anything special.  Here’s the view from the top of our dune looking south.

Although this unmagnified picture may not look too spectacular, the ocean was actually alive with birds, featuring large flocks of Gannets, Forster’s Terns, Bonaparte’s Gulls, Red-throated Loons, and Double-crested Cormorants passing by and feeding not too far offshore.  There was also a flock of gulls just a short distance away at the outflow from Salt Pond but once again my target white-winged gulls were not mixed in.  Soon after I arrived Daniel spotted a Little Gull going by – unfortunately I never got on it.  I watched flocks of Bonaparte’s passing by for the next 30 minutes hoping the Little Gull might return but never spotted it.  That was frustrating. 

During one of the slower times I looked back over to the gull flock and instantly spotted an all gray gull with a white head and red bill flying in – I had re-found the Heermann’s Gull!  (statebird #3)  It was last seen 3 days earlier at Wrightsville Beach, some 145 miles away as the Gull flies.  I got this phonescoped photo of the bird standing behind a Ring-billed Gull.

Unfortunately, it only stayed about 10 minutes before it took off heading east disappearing over the ocean.  In the last year I’ve now seen this Pacific Ocean species in GA, VA, and now NC.  Wonder what’s causing it to show up on the Atlantic coast.

With that excitement behind us we turned our interest back to the seawatch.  Activity had slowed quite a bit after the first 90 minutes or so, but some good birds were still passing by.  Daniel spotted a couple Razorbills and this time I was able to pick them up (statebird #4).  And a bit later I was also able to find a Manx Shearwater that Daniel had picked up (statebird #5).  NC was my 6th state for this species which is regular through most of the Atlantic coast, though not often seen from shore.

Manx map

After about 3 hours on the point I decided to end my seawatch, very happy to have seen 3 new statebirds, including re-finding the Heermann’s Gull.  On the way back I ran into 3 very tame “Ipswich” Savannah Sparrows feeding in the sand - a nice ending for this spot and a welcome break during the long walk in soft sand.

My planned next stop was near the Oregon Inlet Campground to try for a recently reported Snowy Owl.  Unfortunately it had not been reported for 3 days, and since I needed to get back to Alligator NWR, I decided to pass on this low probability target and headed right to the refuge.  Though I certainly kept my eyes open as I passed through the area.  (It turns out that the bird was not seen again after the 12th so I made the right decision.)

I rolled into Alligator NWR at about 12:30 and went right to the western end of Sawyer Lake Rd to search for the Ash-throated Flycatcher.  It had been reported that morning so I was hopeful, but there were also many negative reports over the last several days.  There were only a few reports that mentioned the location of the bird, and all described it as being on the north side of the road along a canal that paralleled the road.  One report mentioned it was with a Phoebe, and another included pictures of the bird eating sumac berries.  I spent nearly 2 hours at this location without seeing the bird.  Though I found a couple Phoebes, sumac berries, and even a Phoebe eating the sumac berries. 

Then I remembered one report saying it responded to taped calls.  I started playing some tape and after a while got a bird to call back several times in response.  It gave a “breep” or perhaps “peek” call which certainly sounded flycatcher-like but was unlike the calls I was playing.  I told myself I’d have to listen to other recordings to see what I was hearing.  That night I went onto the Xeno-canto website and there were many recordings of this call note from Ash-throated Flycatcher.  In fact, there were more of these calls than those similar to the taped calls I was playing in the field.  Here’s a link to the calls on the website-

https://xeno-canto.org/species/Myiarchus-cinerascens

Although I sure wish I had seen the bird, I was confident that I had heard the Ash-throated Flycatcher (statebird #6).  This bird which is principally found in the southwest is prone to vagrancy, and I’ve now added it to my lists in 6 eastern states plus KS.

Then I was off to the ag fields in Alligator NWR where there had been occasional reports of a Rough-legged Hawk, and a few older reports of Golden Eagle.  I was running out of time but spent perhaps a half hour driving along the fields looking for raptors.  I had good numbers of Harriers, Red-tails, and Vultures, but none of my targets.  Though a hovering buteo that turned out to be a Red-tail sure got my attention for a while.  (Ironically later in the day I had a Rough-legged Hawk just across the state line in VA – but I don’t need it in VA.)  And a long-staying Sandhill Crane was nice.  I wanted to stay longer but still planned to do a seawatch from Jennette’s Pier, so I needed to move on.  Unfortunately, I was still paying the price for adding that diversion to Wrightsville Beach.

I rolled into Jennette’s Pier at about 3 PM – lighting and visibility were excellent so now I just needed the birds to cooperate. 

The pier sticks some 900 feet out into the ocean so seabirds can sometimes be pretty close.  At first it was quite slow with just a few Forster’s Terns passing by and both Red-throated and Common Loons on the water.  Then I noticed a Razorbill flying north, then another, and then a small flock.  Over the next 45 minutes I counted 14 flying by, and 2 very distant alcid flocks numbering 42 birds that were probably Razorbills but I entered them as “large alcid sp.”  Then I picked up a group of 3 Razorbills on the water not too far offshore.  While watching them another much smaller alcid flew through my scope field.  I watched it for a couple seconds until it dropped to the water and disappeared in the swells.  It was like a football with rapidly beating wings, with a short neck and small head and bill.  I had found a Dovekie! (statebird #7). 

What a great way to end the NC portion of my trip!  Although I was more than a bit rushed at times, I’m glad I added the side-trip to Wrightsville Beach.  And with 7 new birds that brings my NC list to 320.  The link to the eBird Trip report for this NC portion of my coastal trip is inserted below-

https://ebird.org/tripreport/39063

I could only hope to have similar successes in Virginia!

(My next post summarizes the VA portion of my trip.)