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.)
No comments:
Post a Comment